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[felineavenger]

What an absolutely delectable distraction!

[A frightening feline visage graces the viewer. While it registers more or less as a cat in shape and size, there is something particularly off about it. The eyes are too big, and the mouth gapes, full of crowded teeth pointing in all directions. It’s visibly smiling, which is something a normal cat shouldn’t be able to do. Maybe this is what cats look like in nightmares?]

Such an array of colours and textures! I find myself mourning my poor ability to see all the different shades, but oh, the sensations underneath my toes! The feeling of raking my claws over the various chairs and couches in this lovely building is nothing less than sublime.

I’ve been missing out my entire life, only able to sharpen them against the cold metal of Zone 0. It makes a most unpleasant sound, but one must endure. Hygiene is very important, children.

And they have even made me a little present. While I would prefer some fresh quarry to chase, or perhaps something to open those vexing little tins with, this device is more than satisfactory. It is made just for the charming, rounded shape of my paws.

[It kneads them against the screen, purring in a satisfied manner.]

Tell me, my well-kept inmates, what is the purpose of our prison? I was thoroughly convinced that my world had been reduced to nothingness, as my wanderings proved fruitless, and yet I am here, vibrant and alive! The puppeteers have made quite the tangle of strings here, but it does not bother me any more than any other ball of yarn, which we cats are so expert at unraveling.

I implore you to tell me all you know. I am very, very curious.

[OOC: Before playing with The Judge, please check out his permissions post! He has a particular fourth-wall breaking power that you need to know about before engaging with him.]

Comments

[determinedest]

He...Spared you?

[* you're sparing me?

They wish they could claim that's a shock. That that's unnerving, and doesn't make any sense, if his goal apparently was to raze the world, and tear it asunder.

But it's not surprising at all.

They've done the same.]

[felineavenger]

Not him. No, the character of the Batter was not capable of mercy. He was made to destroy.

But the puppeteer had a change of heart. I pleaded for them to stop, and gave them a choice. They made a wise, if untimely decision.

[determinedest]

[The Puppeteer turned back at the last moment. Since when were you the one in control? Only there was no control to be wrested away. The Puppeteer was always the one in control.



How good.]

The switch remained On.

[felineavenger]

Indeed.

I do not blame them. I can't. They were a victim of sinister trappings. The only way to end it would be to quit, and that is... unsatisfying, I suppose.

[determinedest]

Could they?

[For the first time, Frisk's stare fixes on the cat with a blazingly incisive look. Could they QUIT? Are they allowed?



What a power that would be.

What a power.]

[felineavenger]

I imagine that they could. However, we here would never know the difference, and so in the end it doesn't matter.

[The story would simply never reach it's conclusion. Or rather, the moment they quit would be the conclusion. The Queen kept the sun, the Child imagined the world, but the Puppeteer controlled their fates.]

[determinedest]

[For a long moment, they have no answer to that. It wouldn't matter, and they would never know the difference. Is that...

Did they QUIT? A window stopped, a FIGHT paused, and then resumed as though nothing happened. Could they have QUIT, even if they never knew it?]

You can't tell if they do?

[felineavenger]

I cannot. I have a deep and personal understanding of my world, but some of its cogs and gears turn in a place beyond my comprehension.

[determinedest]

[So he exists on a tier below Zacharie, maybe. Able to address the Puppeteer, but not dissect the...what does Chara call it? The "bones of the world"? A block, but maybe one that makes sense.

They shouldn't have pressed.]

I'm sorry.

[felineavenger]

It is no trouble. You didn't know. And it sounds as though we've had similar experiences.

[determinedest]

A little bit.

[They've been on one end of the spectrum, that is, and it wasn't the Judge's.]

I made mistakes, back home.

[felineavenger]

We have all made mistakes, have we not?

[determinedest]

I guess so, yeah.

[...

Mistakes that ruin an entire world?]

Do we all get Judged for them?

[felineavenger]

Perhaps. Perhaps not. But while justice is fluid, vengeance is sharp.

[determinedest]

[Will you Judge me? They should ask it, but the words stick to their tongue. Instead - instead, they can ask questions.]

What do you mean? "Fluid"?

[felineavenger]

It is something that people decide. What is just to one may not be to another.

[determinedest]

Is there something that's just...wrong? No matter what?

[Hand curling over the front of their sweater, fingers digging into the fabric as they take a fistful of it, twisting it nervously.]

[felineavenger]

As a Judge, I personally wish it were so. But I have seen some of the stitches that hold worlds together. Justice is not woven into those threads. We must make it ourselves.

[determinedest]

[His SOUL must be yellow. Tinted with the gold of a flashing iris buried in a black socket.

Can you Judge me?]

I guess that makes sense.

[felineavenger]

My experience is poor, because I have only met one child in my life, but you are a peculiar one.

[determinedest]

[Only one?

Maybe that makes him lucky. It's easy to smile to that, to lift their shoulders in a shrug that might be reminiscent of the sorts that Sans would issue, over-exaggerated and slightly silly.]

That's okay. I've got no standards.

[felineavenger]

If you wish to be happier, I would suggest comic books and cake.

[determinedest]

[Comic books and cake. It's a disarmingly funny solution, purely due to its simplicity. That will...make them smile. Make them better.

But he sound so sincere that they can't help but smile. Might as well try for his sake, right? Be happier.]

I'll ask the closets.