Maybe you can SAVE something else

[achievementhunter]

The Lost Souls Meme

*The world is ending. 

 

Your character has become a Lost Soul. They've lost their self, the things they believed in, the people they love. All that's left are their insecurities, their burdens, their sorrows. But maybe with the power you do have, you can still SAVE them...

 

1. Post your character.
2. Other characters will respond with the things they do to reach out to that soul -- remind them of a special memory, the things that make them special, the jokes they shared, etc.
3. The Lost Soul will attack and spill their guts about the things that hold them back. Be sure to dodge those friendliness pellets!
4. Get SAVED!

Comments

FUCKING R I P

[determinedest]

[Something about what it says seems so familiar...

Words like determined and choice and control. Important words, powerful words, and it should hold onto them and yet - still, they slip out from between its fingers like grains of sand.]

* Since when were you the one in control?

[...]

[Its breathing gets funny for a moment.]

[ponchohuman]

[There's a faint ping of satisfaction through their chest, not sprung from empathy, but the pure accomplishment that they're doing anything. They're nearly there, a few more pushes and they'll break through whatever spell this is, they're sure of it.

*Name the Fallen Human ]

Why, never! It's always simply been you Frisk.

[determinedest]

[ * Still just you, ▛▐▙▀▐.

It's...it's you? It's not...it's not you. It's not you, it's not me, it's not anything, it's it's it's it's it's just it. It names...it names the Fallen Human. It names...

* Still just you, ▃▊▀▜▜.

No - no.

And it starts to laugh.]

* WARNING.
* This name will make your life hell.
* Proceed anyway?

[ponchohuman]

[They stare the laughter down blank faced. A warning is issued, and ignored. Life is always hell. A name will do nothing to change that.

They do not know this child's opinion on trust, and they doubt that they are a person they would desire comfort from. What an issue. What a conundrum. It seems they will have to act regardless. Perhaps there is a middle ground to be reached.]

*You tell the human child you understand what is it like to die over and over without anyone caring.

*You tell the human child that just because nobody will remember what you fought for it's still worth it.

[determinedest]

[SOUL breaks. Hopes and dreams wither. GAME OVER. No choice, no option, no beginning again. Simply the requirement to Continue. To Continue, to Continue, to Continue, until all else crumbles and fails and there is no reason to Continue besides

Besides its function.

What it is made to do.

Hands reach to face, obscured as it is. Want to open mouth, want to scream, want to cry, want to Call For Help - but it knows, it knows how that goes. It knows how that story Ends, the way it always Ends.]

When can I sleep?

[ponchohuman]

One day.

[They thought they gotten that to, child. Dead and dusted, a war won. But they're awake again now, if only for a little while. ]

You have to keep going Frisk. We all do. Going and going until you stop. It's not fair, yes, but its not forever.

You will get an ending.

[determinedest]

Miles to go.

[Low words, a broken chant. Hands falling back to its sides again.]

Miles to go before we sleep. Miles to go. Miles to go.

[It's not fair, is it? It's not fair at all. Why does someone else get to be gone, get to fall to something very, very interesting, faced bathed in the orange gleam of torchlight nestled in the crags beneath a bridge? When do they get their turn? When will it be all right for them to finally, finally - ]

Miles to go before I sleep.

cw sucide idation

[ponchohuman]

Miles. Yes. Miles and miles and miles. A regular exodus.

[They sink down onto a knee, getting on eye level. ] Miles are not forever child.

[They choose to let it end. After all. There must be something keeping this child here. ]

Technically, you can end it whenever you want. It may be the easiest thing but red mages and abassadors are not chosen for the easiest ways.

[Chin up kiddo. It might not be them but somebody out there really cares about you. ]

[determinedest]

[Miles are not forever. You can End it whenever you want. You can End it on your own. You know the way, don't you? You know the way. It is the way things will always go. It is what happens when anomalies get bored. When they begin to wonder, furiously, what the point is, in a world full of children scared to go to sleep, for fear of what the world might bring tomorrow.

* The Lost Soul seems to be remembering something...

So don't give up wherever you are, okay?]

I am filled with Determination.

[ponchohuman]

I think you're filled with something better then just determination.

[They're not gonna say it. Kalak's not gonna say the lowercase l word. You can't make them. They're edgy for life. ]

[determinedest]

[The Lost Soul hesitates. What...what is it, other than Determined? What else lingers in its SOUL, aside from Determination?]

* Determination.

[But the Lost Soul sounds - uncertain.]

[ponchohuman]

Not all that matters.

[They have to restrain themselves from groaning about how cheesy this is going to get. They're gonna loose so much edgelord cred for this. ]

Hope, compassion, love. Monsters say humans do not need these things to exist, but that is simply fruitless propaganda. Lies, pure and simple. You are more then what powers your soul. You are more then simply a will to exist, Frisk.

[determinedest]

[You are more than simply a will to exist.

More than simply a reddened spike of determination and the ability to claw their way out from the dust and dirt, crawling to a golden gleam of light. More than the ability to take the world like clay in between fingertips, and ply apart the slats of it to claw out the lines of numbers beneath.

You are more than simply a will to exist.

You are more than having to work harder.

Work harder.]

I lied to everyone.

[* I've got to keep lying...]

Children are selfish.

[ponchohuman]

And adults are better?

[Buddy you're not talking to somebody who'll tell you lying is a bad thing. Kalak has lied every day of their life since they turned back a wrong timeline and set to preventing it at any cost. ]

Children are selfish. Adults are selfish. Monsters are selfish. Selfish is just wanting something, and you can't escape that. Selfishness isn't bad because without it, you'd have none of that determination that you are so fond of.

[determinedest]

[Kids are dumb. They get silly ideas in their head.

They get ideas about how wishes might allow you to sit there, passively, and wait for things to get better on their own. They get ideas about how you can SAVE everyone, no matter what, because they're stupid, idealistic little things.

They think it's all right to want something, and no one will hurt you because of that.

* The Lost Soul hesitates.]

* I'll climb this mountain, and...
* I just want everyone to be happy...

[ponchohuman]

[ Adults are dumb, they'll get used to the way of things and when choices come, they'll walk the same stubborn path over and over.

They'll stop thinking about all their options, about SAVING. They'll make a terrible mistake they can never undo or regret.

A little more stupidity on Kalak's part might have spelt a happier ending. ]

You can't make everyone happy.

[They don't sugercoat it for once. If you're going to get saved you're going to have to learn something, Frisk. ]

You'll hurt someone, eventually, maybe not for a long time or maybe you already have, but eventually you'll mess up and they might never forgive you. Climbing a mountain won't solve that.

You just have to be better and hope for it. Or you have to give up and keep going, because it was a price you had to pay. Look forward. Not back. How will what you did today change how you choose to act tomarrow.

[determinedest]

[...once upon a time.

Once upon a time, someone hurts someone. Someone does something to hurt someone, or someone says something, or maybe someone takes something away from someone else. Someone hurt someone else, who hurt someone else, who hurt someone else, who hurt someone else, who hurt me.

Who hurt you.

Eventually you'll mess up, and they might never forgive you. Climbing a mountain won't solve that.

You climb a mountain. You climb a mountain because it's the right thing to do, because no one will miss someone who waited at a bus stop for days, for hours, stomach growling, and there was a gas station where you could pick something up with the dollar fifty you had in your pocket, but they said to wait right there so you will, you will, you'll prove it to them that you can be good.

You climb a mountain, because you want everyone to be happy.

Dawn will turn to day. And you'll wait for the world to Begin Again.]

H-how...?

[How do you be better? How do you work harder? How do you keep going, when it feels like there's nothing at all? How do you keep looking forward?

* The Lost Soul's breathing hitches.]

[ponchohuman]

I haven't the faintest idea.

[They're dead remember? They killed themselves for the proclaimed greater good, but maybe they couldn't even imagine living the way they were at the end of the war. They didn't win at this particular game.]

You can't make everyone happy. You can't help everyone.

..But you help who you can and that's worth it, right? That's worth being being a little better for perhaps? I'd say an ambassador is already a few steps ahead of a general, if we are being frank. Shouldn't you be the one preaching?

[determinedest]

[They haven't the faintest idea. They just know that you can't help everyone. You can help who you can. You can have courage, and you can be kind. You can turn a turtle over so it's not lying on its back. You can pluck a drowning worm from the sidewalk and place it on a dry patch of earth.

You can


Do something nice for people.]

We can...

[We can be strong. We'll free everyone.

* Suddenly, the memories are flooding back.

The burn of static fades in a scattering of minute particles - a flare of brightness and a dispersing of pieces of empty data, REDACTED and then released, and the child crumples to their knees and covers their face in their hands.]

We can do a little better.

[ponchohuman]

Ah, there you are. [They don't kneel down to help the child, but there is a bit of a pleased ring to their voice. ]

Feeling better? I'd hope, you were in quite the spot there.

[There is no mention of doing better. Frisk can do better sure, but Kalak already did their duty. Now, there is only existing, until they are returned to their death again, they expect. There's no use trying to be their bright eyed younger self again. ]

[determinedest]

[A hand goes to their face, the back of one wrist over the hot streaks against their cheeks. Head bowed, hair curtaining their face off from the rest of the world. Can't let anyone see you be this broken.

It's not right.

Can barely manage a nod, and a tiny, almost ashamed mumble.]

...thank you.

[ponchohuman]

It was no trouble. I am the human hero am I not? This is practically my job. [Usually it involves a good deal more killing of monsters and general awful things but, hey! They did something ok for once!

They offer a hand to Frisk. ]

Come on, up you get. You can let it all out later, right now I think escaping this void takes a bit of priority.

[determinedest]

[A human hero. A hero of the Underground. Gerson said he wasn't much of a hero after all. They can't say they...do they owe them, now? Owe this old figure, this warrior whose ideals they can't even say they agree with, or even respect?

...they were Determined enough to SAVE them. That counts for something.

They take the hand as offered, and use it to lever themself to their feet.]

You didn't have to SAVE me.

[ponchohuman]

[Honestly knowing Kalak they probably will bring this up later in a terms of a deal. They would honor their duty regardless of if Frisk could pay or not, but they are not the sort to let an advantage like this pass them up.

Their hand is fever warm and calloused. They let go quickly. Children here seem to dislike touch more often then not ]


I didn't have to win a war either. I have a duty.

[They are not so awful that they can justify leaving a child alone in the dark on a whim. They have some ramshackle remmenents of a code of honor to uphold. ]

[determinedest]

To SAVE someone who doesn't agree with you?

[Frisk hates no one. There's no point in hating...well, anyone but Frisk, and this sole Frisk. They're grateful, at least, that Kalak releases them as quickly as they do. Grateful, too, for how easy it is to duck their head and keep the shiny spots on their cheeks from showing.

Good children don't cry.]