[log] We tried the best we can [closed]

[starsandtights]

Characters: Steve, Peggy, Frisk, Quark, Rydia, Toriel
Location Buildings 29, 56, and 61
Date: Late afternoon/evening 112, evening 113, late morning 114, respectively
Summary: PUT ALL OF THE LOGS IN ONE LOG. An anomaly does a bad thing, meetings and reunions occur, probably there are sad and/or bittersweet cuddles, possibly there are hot baths and attempted vandalism. There could even be alcohol, who knows!
Warnings: Well, I mean. Yukio gets killed traumatically. So there's that, and resulting sadness.

People can have whatever threadstarters they want, labeled with the date and location?

Comments

[starsandtights]

[Steve knows exactly how Frisk feels, but it breaks his heart that Frisk feels this way, that a little kid thinks they need to shoulder this burden. What does he say to the kid? How does he make this better?

He decides to start with the truth.]

...I feel the same way. I keep going over it again and again, thinking about what I could've done, what I should've done. I feel like I let him down. [He sighs.] ...I keep going over it, and there's... nothing. There's nothing I could've done, nothing any of us could've done, not really. It happened too fast, there wasn't time. ...Doesn't really make me feel any better, but there it is.

[He gives Frisk's shoulder a small squeeze.] It's not your fault, Frisk. It's not your responsibility.

[despiteeverything]

[Funny that you should put it like that. In those exact words. Going over it again and again. Trying to find some other way, the right way that things could have gone. Just don't give up. Just stay determined. And keep trying again.

And again.



And again.


They're so




tired]

But I should. [feeling] I should be able to fix stuff but I can't. [so] Not here. [useless] It's the only thing I can do but now I can't.

[Their voice is low, anguished, their fingers snaking up to fist in their hair, nails digging into their scalp.]

[starsandtights]

Whoa, whoa, hey, Frisk—c'mere. [Steve wraps his arm around Frisk's shoulders and tugs them in closer, distressed and alarmed by Frisk's distress.] Hey, shhhhh... what do you mean, you used to be able to fix stuff?

[despiteeverything]

[Frisk curls themselves up even smaller ball, if such a thing were possible.]

I could go back.

[Remember their post from a couple days ago?]

[starsandtights]

[Steve blinks at the phrasing, remembering Frisk's post from a few nights ago, when—when Shiro and Toriel had been trapped out in the cold. At first, he'd missed the post entirely, distracted by the upsetting visions and memories. When he'd seen the obituary he'd gone back and glanced over it, but glancing was all he'd done. (Since it was after the fact and there was nothing he could do about it, sitting through a record of two friends dying while their kids could do nothing about it seemed... unnecessarily harmful to his mental and emotional health.) He remembers Frisk's hysterical babbling on the initial post about 'going back' but he'd thought it was just that, babbling, he hadn't known what it meant.

He blinks again, and remembers even further back—a discussion about Resets. He frowns, thinking.]

...You mean Resets, don't you. You had the power to reset reality, and change the outcome of events?

[despiteeverything]

[Frisk stiffens slightly, and their head lifts to look up at Steve. They'd been babbling on the post the night mom had died, but they know they hadn't mentioned Resets then. They'd at least been able to keep themselves in check that much. So how did he-

That same conversation of what feels like months ago drifts back to the forefront of their mind, too, and now they definitely look the image of a child caught. Their mind scrambles, trying to remember what else they'd said. They can't really remember.

Slowly they lower their head back into their arms. But once its their, he'll see their hair shift up and down again a few times.]

[starsandtights]

[Frisk stiffens and then looks... slightly terrified, maybe, and Steve doesn't really know why but wow, no, that had not been his intention at all. He gives Frisk a little squeeze.] Aw, hey, don't look like that, Frisk—if it's some kinda secret I don't gotta tell nobody.

[Steve means it; he keeps his voice to a low murmur. He frowns down at Frisk, pondering this revelation. ...Jeez, that's—that's an unfathomable amount of power to have, really. For anyone, but especially for a little kid. He can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to deal with, how to understand what it means to have that power. Wanda's got immense power too, and she's young and struggling to deal with it, but she's not a child. ...Christ, this explains so much about Frisk. So much.

Now that Steve's thinking about it, he wonders if he should've been able to figure this out sooner. Frisk talked about people not being able to remember when a Reset happens, but Frisk knew all about it. Steve had kinda figured maybe it was just a feature of Frisk's world that people just generally knew about, but that's starting to look like it's not the case. And... oh.]

...Does your ma know?

[despiteeverything]

[This time Frisk's head all but jerks up, hands tightening so much that their knuckles go white. If they'd looked terrified before, they look petrified now.]

She can't. Please- you can't tell her.

[More than half the time they'd Reset by dying. She can't know that, she just can't.]

[starsandtights]

[Steve's frowning, concerned. This is a big thing, and in his opinion Frisk's mother should know about it; and he doesn't like the idea of keeping secrets from Toriel, especially secrets concerning Frisk. On the other hand he doesn't want to break Frisk's trust, and he thinks he might do just about anything at the moment to not have Frisk look so damn terrified.]

Hey, shhhhh... [He lifts a hand to smooth Frisk's hair back, not quite able to help the impulse.] I meant what I said, I'm not gonna tell anyone if you don't want me to. ...Not even your ma. OK?

[despiteeverything]

[They quiet a little at the soothing gesture, bowing their head a little bit. His words slowly make an impact, one by one; he wasn't going to tell anyone, not unless they wanted. They aren't sure if they'll ever want to, but, still.]

Thank you. [a beat where they breathe, slowly.] There's... stuff. About Resets. I don't... I don't want her to worry.

[Truthfully they don't want him to worry either, thus the vagueness.]