entranceway | [Video]

[Video]

Dear Wonderland.

[She says it like she's starting a letter. To all of you Wonderland girls and guys! She's obviously in her room, the wall of pasted-on Polaroid photos behind her, with softly lit lanterns hanging across the surface on thin wires. It's late at night- or rather, it's the wee hours of the morning. Max has no idea how much the old midnight gang of insomniacs still prowls around the network. She used to be pretty active at this time- not so much anymore.]

This is gonna sound kinda weird, but I swear I'm not off my rocker. Maybe groggy and craving for food, but not crazy.

[ Come on Max, stop embarrassing yourself on the network!]

I was just thinking that I would've graduated by now, since it's June. I'd probably be scrambling to find some sort of arts college that I can afford or that I can even get into. [Or not. Spending a year traveling and taking photos sounds great, too, but college seems pretty important.] And it sucks that I don't have school here.

But... obviously a lot of things suck about Wonderland. Nutso mirrors, certain newbies showing up, all kinds of scary mystery type stuff, nasty events. I mean, sometimes it's... just shit. [Like the past few days, for a lot of people. The network's been full of downers. Her brow furrows as she looks to the side, and her mouth curves into a slight frown.] And I'm sure some of us are bringing in a ton of messed up baggage from back home, too.

[She holds up a stack of instant photos, maybe seven or eight. She angles the stack sideways, so only the sides can be seen by the camera. The girl's still a little too shy to show the actual images.] But see this? Each one's a photo of a... a friend I've made here. People I could actually hang out with. [She waves the little stack at the screen, preparing herself for this next admission.] That's more friends than I had- have in my school.

So yeah, Wonderland totally bombs sometimes. But there's some pretty good stuff going on, too. And I know this is gonna be really hard right now, but I want to hear it- what's something you're super grateful for? Something you might never have had if you hadn't fallen down the rabbit hole? [She tries to make it sound like it's fun challenge, smiling timidly at the screen.] Cuz I'm sure you could name at least three things.

[[OOC: After the post, she leaves her room to roam around the mansion, phone light in hand. Feel free to bump into her wherever! Also, she'll be replying to all responses, even the ones after sunrise.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The other skeleton? [She can't remember his name, but she's seen him on the network.] What happened to him...?

yeah, papyrus. that's my bro. he, uh. he's fine in the timeline i'm from. so when i go home...there he'll be. but the version he's from...

guess that's kinda cheating. since that's not specifically about me. but, uh. while he's here, he's alive, so...the idea of some version of papyrus getting a second chance like this, that's uh...

[Man, this was a bad idea. He keeps doing this lately--running his mouth, saying way too much. What's the matter with him?]

sorry. that's depressing. i'll think of something better.

[Timeline.

Her face softens as he talks.]

No no, Sans, that's totally about you too.

[Timeline, he said. They're from different timelines.]

And that's... I'm so glad he's okay here.

[Timeline. Not time, like he's from the future or something. Timeline.]

And it's great you have family here.

[What the hell happened in the Underground? She's had her suspicions, of course, after her few conversations with Frisk, but she thought it was just Frisk. But... but he said timeline.]

[He's honestly just expecting her to take it at face value. That maybe he's just talking about how there are all different versions of people here, from all different worlds, all different points in time. "Timeline" could mean any number of things, right?]

[He has no idea what he's done. Partially because he's focusing on how stupid it was to say something that...emotional. He's so off his game lately.]

i guess.

but, uh. yeah. thanks. didn't, heh, didn't mean to go and make this heavy. here on the surface things should be lighter, right?

[Tactical pun deflection!]

[She takes the time to switch to private as he talks.]

It's okay. To be honest, I can sort of relate. And it is light, it's... awesome.

[Watch this smooth transition.] So... how exactly is he from a different timeline? Being alive in yours but not in another one...

[Did she just switch to private video? Uh oh.]

yeah, heh. wonderland being on the surface is the really bright part.

[Oh.]

[Oh. Oh shit.]

uh. i dunno. just, you know. people come here from different...worlds and times. timelines.

[Oh god he fucked up.]

[She stares at the screen for a moment. Is Sans... lying? Huh...]

But you and your brother are from the same world. One world, one timeline.

[Right? Sans?]

And one version of [What was his name?] Papyrus.

[Yeah, Sans never tells anybody anything.]

yeah, but. it's...

it was just. poor word choice.

[He hates lying. He hates slipping up like this.]

it's not important.

[Oh come on! He said a version of his brother. How do you say something like that by accident?]

Sans... I just wanna know.

[And it's more than just idle curiosity. There's an intensity in her eyes and the line of her mouth. She needs this.]

...why?

[He's tired.]

[...God. As much as she hates pushing him, she really has to know this. But she also doesn't know how to answer Sans' really simple question.

So she doesn't. Sorry, Sans...

She lets out a frustrated huff.]

...It's probably really hard to talk about. [It always is.] I'm sorry, Sans. But... was there some sort of time stuff going on? [She bites her lip before speaking again. Softly, hesitantly.] Like time travel?

[He could lie. He could just not answer. None of this even matters. Not in Wonderland. He wonders if this ever comes up back home. It must, right? Alphys or Papyrus, or maybe Asgore. Someone figures it out, someone wonders why they're having deja vu all the time. Someone asks Sans. It's supposed to be a secret. Does he just lie to them? Does he keep lying even when they ask him directly, even when they call him out on it? Does he break down and tell them?]

[He doesn't know. He's probably done all of the above.]

[It doesn't matter here, so it hasn't come up, except one time with Papyrus. And at least that time Sans didn't really have to go into it. Papyrus let him gloss over some of the details.]

[And Max...Max has nothing to do with any of this. But she's a friend. And she's asking directly. And she's asking as if she herself knows a thing or two about time stuff.]

[He's been spilling his guts an awful lot lately, for all that he's a skeleton.]

[He's been quiet for awhile. He sighs. He's just...tired. So tired.]

have frisk or chara told you anything about resets?

[Oh, this is it. He's starting to tell her. A creeping sensation works up her legs and back and arms, goose bumps all over, hair on end. She can't believe how stuff like this makes her feel, but god, does she even want to get into this? Her hands start shaking like she's had too much coffee, so she sets down the phone in a way that it's still facing her. She gulps in a deep breath before she replies.]

No. I saw Frisk once with some physics books, stuff about time, but other than that... And Chara's just always being Chara.

[She rubs the back of her neck with her hand. Her shaking hand.

This is curiosity killing the cat. She shouldn't be asking, she's been okay so far. But she has to know, all the shit that happened back in Oregon, all the stuff Frisk and Chara and Sans are tangled up in, the trauma, and oh god- deep breath she doesn't want to let Sans see how much this is affecting her.

Maybe it's not anything like time travel at all. She hopes for it and dreads it at the same time. Fuck.]

[She seems...upset. Jittery, even. This really is important to her, isn't it? Something happened to her. Maybe is still happening, back in her world.]

[He's really going to do this, isn't he? He's...he's really going to talk about this.]

it's...something humans can do. not all humans. just...heh. very determined ones. monsters can't do it. monsters aren't determined enough. there's a lot of... [He trails off and shrugs.] ...science and magic involved. technical stuff. doesn't matter.

a reset basically lets you go back in time. but only to a specific point. a human could use it if they got into trouble to just go back and prevent it from happening. or to fix mistakes, or to make a different decision.

[He goes quiet again for a bit. From the video it's clear he has sat down somewhere and set the phone down on a flat surface. He rubs at the spot between his eyesockets.]

when you reset and change something, it's like it never happened. no one but the person doing the resetting would know anything was different. everything just starts over. no one remembers.

[The words are burning themselves into her brain. Determined humans? Resets, like things never happened, and no one remembers.

It's... it's close. It's almost the same as Max's own terrifying experiences. She squeezes her eyes shut and covers her face with her hands, listening to Sans' explanation.

It's almost like the thing she can do with pictures. No, could do. Not anymore. The more dangerous form of rewind, where she jumps as far back as years into the specific moment captured by the photograph. That's the one that really fucks things up.

She almost hears a slow voice in the back of her mind, like an audible smirk, taunting her, telling her what a mess she's made.

Slowly, she lowers her hands. They linger over her mouth as she inhales deeply again. She can't quite look at him, instead focusing on a point just above the phone. When she finally speaks, her voice is raspy and she has to clear her throat.]

How far back in time? And how can they choose what point to go back to?

[He was right. She must have experience with this. She's a wreck. Well, no more or less so than he is, at least.]

i don't know if they can. [He frowns. He knows where the starting point is from his perspective--he wakes up in Snowdin, and a day or two later, the human shows up. The Save, if that's even what it is, must be somewhere in the Ruins.]

the starting point might be fixed. but they can go back to it at any time. hours, days...maybe years.

[Maybe. He doesn't know for sure.]

there's something similar called a reload. it doesn't start things over--just sends you back to your last "save." it's less, uh, all-consuming than a reset. so if something goes wrong or the human dies, they can just go back a few minutes and fix it.

[Come on, Max. Keep it together. You're just talking about it. No biggie.

Sans seems to be talking about two types- a quick one and a big one. It sounds more and more like what Max went through, and that's frightening. Why is this affecting her so much? She can actually feel her eyes starting to water.

Pfft, Maxine, you haven't had it together in months.

Who the hell said that?]

How- how did it start? Do you know? And what do you mean determination?

[God, is she crying? He's pretty sure she's crying.]

max, we don't...we don't have to talk about this. i...heh. you just seem like you're enjoying this about as much as i am.

What? I-... [She has to know. She can't be this close to finding things out and then just back away, even if there are slight differences- it's just too close to the truth she's been hunting for months, and- and now Sans just wants to stop? Doesn't he get how much this means to her, how much crap she went through, god, why doesn't anyone but Chloe-

Because she never told him. And he can already tell how much it's affecting her. Deep breath. Try not to cry. Hang your head in shame, because you should be ashamed! Because people died Max!]

Just... t-tell me how it started.

why is it important? none of this even matters here.

something happened to you. right?

Fuck. I don't know. [Now even more self conscious than before, she rubs at her eyes, and only nods in answer to his second questions. She got so caught up in her own feelings that she sort of forgot about his. It takes another deep breath to start calming down.]

You too?

yeah. me too.

[She looks at him, hesitating for a few moments, her mouth slightly open as she struggles between asking more and wanting this conversation to end. Eventually the former wins out.

She hangs her head, can't look him in the eye. He must be hating this, too. How could anyone like anything to do with this crap?]

What happened...?

[He goes quiet. His eyelights flicker out. He's quiet for long enough that it almost seems like he's fallen asleep.]

[This. Is happening, isn't it? They're talking about this. He's already told her things no one is supposed to know.]

something appeared in the underground. not a human or a monster. but it was determined enough that it could reset. so it did. over and over.

some timelines were okay. others weren't.

[He should stop. He should just stop. He doesn't.]

eventually a human appeared and they gained control of the timelines. this human's determination won out, i guess. and they did the same thing. resets. some good timelines, some bad.

[He already mentioned Frisk's and Chara's names, but he's not going to openly throw them under the bus. He's leaving out most of the details already.]

like i said, no one knows about this back home. how could they? time unwinds and it all starts over. no one notices.

[...]

[It scares her, the way Sans seems to shut down. She doesn't know what monsters are like- what skeletons are like. How is she supposed to react, in that silence that seems to stretch on and on. She almost speaks when he finally starts talking. Then she listens quietly, her breathing slowing down.

It was Chara, wasn't it? Or Frisk. One of them, maybe. The Underground's full of monsters except for those two, right? And Chara's the one that's not sure what they are- they must be the 'something' Sans is talking about. And Frisk must be the human.

Chara once told her about being replaced- maybe that's what they meant.

Some good timelines, some bad. Other timelines where you can't tell. Some that pretend to be good until you find out later on just how much you've fucked up the world.

She gets it.]

You know about it.

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