lifenet | stones of farspeech

[Here's a familiar voice for you, Asgore.]

I would be glad to help, mister Asgore. Is... something wrong with your sight?

[Some slight concern.]

Oh! Howdy, Pyrrha!

[yaaaaay]

I'm afraid so. But please, don't worry about it. It will pass with time.

[Sir, you will find that she worries about everyone. Her trial wasn't going to change that.]

Whatever it is, I should hope so? [Sounds bad??] When would you like me to show up? Or, uh, where, is what I should probably be asking.

You live on the islet with the large shell, don't you?

[Wash had mentioned her as one of his neighbors.]

I live on the one just to the south. I can meet you in the main circle here, if that is alright? [Normally he'd offer something more in the middle, but he hasn't walked up to that islet since he lost his sight, and it's not going to be any more convenient for her if she has to wait on him to find his way.] It does not have to be right now.

Oh? Why yes, I do. In one of the cottages with Nari.

[She's been meaning to get to know more of her neighbors...]

It can be whenever you're ready. I'm not exceptionally busy right now. I can actually be over there pretty quickly.

[It's been a while since she stretched her legs... well, ever since the Trials, that is.]

[Asgore nods, for like...no reason.]

I met Washington recently. He mentioned that you two were neighbors. I am not busy now - I could meet you in a few minutes?

[It's OK, Asgore. Pyrrha still does that sometimes.]

Oh! Well, that's good then. We are, I've been meaning to drop by them more often as well.

[Perhaps in the coming month...]

That works well for me, I'll be there before you know it!

[And there's probably some kind of sound signifying that Pyrrha's gotten off her stone of farspeech. So, that just leaves... the wait. It's not terribly long, since Pyrrha doesn't like to keep people waiting.

Soon enough, she's jogging down towards Asgore's home, scanning the area for the large monster.]

Asgore? Hello? I'm here.

[Asgore is standing near the edge of the little circle of houses, leaning on a large walking stick. He turns when he hears Pyrrha's voice, though from the cloudiness of his eyes, it's clear that he isn't seeing her.]

Howdy, Pyrrha! Thank you for coming.

Tea? That sounds pretty cool.

[Not that he was a tea drinker, but it sounded like something one would see on a menu back at home. Anything that seemed 'normal' was welcome.]

I could try and help! Is it just two trees?

It seems so, yes. And they are not full-grown yet - perhaps they are more like shrubs right now.

[They're still like waist-height on a human person, but you can't see Asgore's size for comparison.]

Easy peasy, then! Where ya planting them?

Near my home! Are you familiar with the islet around Enso that has the very large shell? I live on the islet just south of it. My home is a little farther from the others here, but it means that I have a fair amount of space for planting.

Trees finally came, huh?

[Boy oh boy. That's later than he predicted, but still early enough to make the blindness a problem.]

I found them in my front room this morning.

[He walked directly into them and it was not the most fun he's had recently.]

Talk about timing.

[Sigh.]

You've got volunteers already, or no?

Pyrrha is on her way down here now. But thank you for asking!

Good.

[Pyrrha. He knows Pyrrha. She seems like..good people? She did help him drag C.T.'s waterlogged corpse to shore, and - yeah, he's going to stop thinking about that now.]

No change, huh? With the...eyesight.

No. The last time I died, the effects lasted about a month, so I suppose it should be the same or longer now.

[boy that wasn't even "the first time I died"]

How many times does that make for you?

[That's probably a personal question. Wash...unfortunately, either doesn't care or considers that potential invasion of privacy to be moot. It's either one with him. Either way, he just sounds annoyed.]

[There's a rather noticeable hesitation. Even over rock-phone, Asgore isn't particularly good at concealing things.]

Twice, since I got here. [Any previous times are Not Relevant.] That is such a strange thing, is it not?

Since you got here. Oh, so you've died a whole bunch of other times?

[It's not that he's shocked this is happening. Or that there's something of a...dismissive attitude about it? It's just that so many people talk about having a small number of deaths like that's an achievement, when ideally one should have none.]

Oh, goodness, no!

[Well shit, that change of subject didn't work. Asgore looks around, wonders why he's looking around because he's blind and also alone in his house, and continues in a quieter voice anyway.]

...it was only once before. Please do not tell anyone - nobody here knows about that.

But you decided to trust me, of all people?

[He isn't untrustworthy, to be fair; Agent Washington has ferried more than his fair share of secrets. He's more baffled that this would be disclosed to him after a total of...what? Two conversations?]

Well, it is not exactly a secret. Everyone in the last world I visited knew. It is only that there are a few people from my world here, and I would hate for them to...

[He doesn't expect that Muffet would care, exactly. No more than any monster might upon losing the King; they weren't well acquainted. Chara...

He doesn't know what Chara would think. Perhaps that one is only for him.]

...feel any undue concern. I am sure you will not seek them out. [That would be a pointlessly mean thing to do, so it's not a super high bar to clear?

also lol he has like maybe one friend here]

Edited 2019-01-06 02:10 (UTC)

[Wash sighs. He's not wrong, exactly. You don't get to compartmentalizing an entire other person and A.I.'s life without learning to be a locked down vault in regards to secrets that aren't yours to tell. Most of that's been declassified, at this point. Most of it.]

You're lucky that you're right about that. Lucky. Not everyone would give you that courtesy.

[He's certain that Asgore's realized that. He just - what? Didn't want to lie?]

[He's incredibly bad at lying and boy does he know it. It just seemed like Washington was going to press until he got the truth anyway.

...maybe he just misses his friends from Beacon. It had been such a relief not to have to hide anything from them. Being here has been difficult.]

Perhaps not. But you do not seem like the type of person to do something like that for no reason.

[Well. That's true. That didn't mean he had to give it to him.]

You've spoken to me all of twice.

You could have just let me find my way home on my own. I had already made it that far, after all. It is not as though I was going to walk off a cliff.

[You were helpful!]

[All right. All right, he's...not about to argue. Not over something so stupid. Gauging trust off of a metric of basic human decency is just - not what he'd recommend, in terms of strategy.]

Is there anything else you've told me that you don't want anyone else to know?

...no, that is all.

[Oh, is that what this is about? He's overstepped. It's not as though he considered Washington a close friend - they really have only spoken twice - but clearly he's still presumed a little too much.]

I apologize - really, it is not that important. Don't worry about it. I am sure it would not be the end of the world if they happened to hear.

That's not -

[He cuts the words off with a short noise of frustration. Why does he care about this? He shouldn't. Oh my god, but he shouldn't care.]

I just don't...understand. Why you'd tell someone that, if you didn't want them to know.

You...did seem like you wanted to know...

[Remember how he's really bad at lying? That was definitely not true.

Or, it was, but that's not a good enough reason even for Asgore. Has he really missed talking to people that badly? He needs to not. His time in Beacon shouldn't outweigh his previous experience - how many years did he spend not telling people how much he didn't want to wage the war he'd promised them?

At least he didn't mention how he died.]

Ah, Pyrrha is here. I should be going.

...fine. Good luck.

[Don't push it, Washington. This accomplished nothing but the generation of apparent distress for both of them, and what's the point in that? What good is there, in that?]

[None whatsoever.]

[He shoves the stone into his pocket.]

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