entranceway | 5th Social Link ▫ Video + Action

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5th Social Link ▫ Video + Action

[Winter was now over and spring had just started. Minato kind of missed the snow, but at least the weather was cool and comfortable instead of being too cold. For a change of pace as he wandered outside, now that the space event was over, he decided to head to the Checkerboard Hills. He hadn't been there often. It was time to check it out again.

That is, if checking it out meant doing a once-over on the checkered patterns from dark to light, then ending up laying in one of the darker square patches, his comm device off to the side as he looked up at the sky.

It's spring here and spring at home. School would be starting again, if he were there and time progressed.

Were these questions even fair? Did he have too much time on his hands, playing around with or thinking about 'what if' in a place that may make him forget his existence here at all?]

..... Would you rather be dead at home or alive here?

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Just start over.

[The specifics are more complicated. A SAVE isn't the same as a RESET. But Wonderland took the later of those powers for its own use.]

That's how it works.

Starting over is why you think things don't matter?

[He supposed it could be discouraging then, at that rate.]

They don't. [Well...] Didn't.

Not unless I wanted them to.

So there are times when you don't want it to?

[Was that like dying? Game over? Minato wondered if he was taking the video game analogy a little too far.]

Doesn't matter if I didn't want to.

You RESET, or you Continue.

[No knowing how to QUIT.]

What would make you happy then, if you could have it?

[Things mattered, things didn't matter, that was fine. This was wishing thinking, having hope, and of course, they might not like that either. But what if he wanted to hear it anyway?]

[A delicate shrug of their shoulders. They could want something as badly as they like. It won't make it true. They've learned that lesson too harshly, months back, adjusting to their inability to simply - rearrange the course of reality when things didn't go their way.]

I don't know.

Do you actually know, but don't want to tell anyone?

[They could keep it locked and secured away. There was a difference though between not knowing at all and then knowing and not acknowledging it.]

I'm the type of person who won't ever be happy.

[They have that on good authority, actually.]

[It didn't quite answer the question, but Minato could always follow up with more.]

Even if other people try to help you to be?

It's not up to them.

It's up to me.

[And they're never going to be satisfied. That's just the sort of thing they are.]

[Minato thought about then, then gave another nod.]

Just because you're not happy doesn't mean you're unhappy.

Guess I'm just not very good at that either.

Not very good at what?

[Did they even know what they were responding to? Everything just so happened to never be in their favor. There had to be a way to at least make it not so dark or down. It's probably exhausting to have to be so pessimistic and negative all the time.]

[It's not something that sprang out of the ether.]

Doing what people want.

What about what you want?

[Did that matter?]

[No. It doesn't.]

People who do whatever they want are dangerous.

[Then that meant a lot of people were dangerous. Not that he really minded. He was quiet for a minute though before asking something else:]

... Are we friends?

[It does. But some are more capable of doing terrible things than others. Some people are simply - doomed, right from the start, because of what they are. Frisk fixes him with an unblinking, even stare for a long moment.]

Do you want us to be?

Do you think we are?

[Minato had asked first, so he thought it was fair if he got an answer first. But if they needed to play a game with answering a question with a question, then maybe Minato could give an answer first.]

[A moment of consideration, and they tip their head to one side. That's not an answer, but in fairness, they didn't answer his question either. They'd hate to be...presumptive.]

I don't know. If you want, I guess.

[Minato was about to address that with another question, but that would be unfair. He already asked a lot already, considering.]

I'd like it if we were. I'll be here if you need anything from me.

[Now whether they needed the help was another issue, but that wasn't Minato's decision. He only offered, and they didn't have to take it if they didn't want it. But it was there.]

[Another moment, and then they nod. It's a reasonable request. He's said and done things that...but every other friend they've made has done the same, and that's just how it is, with friends. That's what they all say.]

Okay.

[Then it's settled. Minato wasn't sure exactly how they felt about their conversation leading up to this, but he did know here was where they both were now.]

We'll go make pancakes together sometime again then.

[It doesn't matter, in the end, if he said something that hurt them, or if they hurt him back. In their experience, that's precisely what it is that friends do, and they're always worth forgiveness because of it.

It's not a smile, but it's certainly a nod as they answer.]

Okay. We can.

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jivitadana - 2017-05-09 14:19 (UTC) - Expand

video;

determinedest - 2017-05-09 17:41 (UTC) - Expand

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