Strain this chaos, turn it into light

[inruins]

Who: Toriel & you!
When: July 4th - 6th
Where: Around what's left of the ship.
What: Toriel emerges from death, more than a little confused and agitated. She copes by taking care of what is left of the ship.
Warnings: Talk of death, battle and bloodshed? Also glass children will probably appear.



[A - July 4th]

Waking up in the medbay was something Toriel was not finding particularly enjoyable. The only relief she finds is the fact she isn't tired or injured. She's alive again, somehow. With Curre's assistance, Toriel is back on her feet easily enough.

She saves whatever thoughts she has regarding the battle, the chaos that unfolded upon the ship for later. Whilst she does not have the warmest spot in her soul for the Captains, she can see they're trying. Trying and failing, again and again.

When given the clear, Toriel more than happily leaves the medbay, startled by the sea of glass and people passing her by. She has missed much in the wake of the battle ending.

A gusty, tired "Oh." Escapes her as she surveys the damage. Rooms are gone, the dining hall is now merely an emptied room. Toriel lingers, stunned by the sight. She doesn't realize she's blocking the hallway until someone jostles by her.

"Ah- my apologies." She offers back weakly, gaze briefly moving to the person passing by.

[B - July 5th]

Toriel does what she can to make things easier, gently brushing aside fallen shards of glass from the floor. She is relieved the broom in her grasp is still wooden and solid. She wishes she had some form of dustpan, but finding the broom was already a task in itself.

All the glass makes Toriel wish shoes were an option for herself, but she'll make do. If she can keep the glass to the side out of the main footpath it should be fine.

"Be careful, dear. Something shattered around here." She advises someone approaching, not glancing up from her work. "Step carefully."


[C - July 6th]

Coming to the garden was a mistake. Toriel realizes this immediately when her eyes fall upon the glass sculpture. Before she had thought it was lovely, without context it seemed respectful.

In Memory of Caducus Primary
the glass may reflect images of the past and future

Now it felt like a cruel joke played upon all of those who came after the fall of Caducus. Toriel clenches her fist at her sides, frowning tightly at the sculpture before forcing herself to move on.

Those who walk into the gardens will find her cleaning off the playground equipment she and Peter installed before the battle. The boss monster mutters softly to herself as she works on making sure no glass lay on the plastic surfaces of the playground equipment.

Comments

C.

[mttbrandlegs]

Never before had Mettaton been so conflicted with seeing a familiar face. On the one hand, he's very happy to see that Toriel's alive again, she's one of the first monsters he's seen since...since he he had come around in the medbay. On the other...he doesn't want to see her this way, and even less does he want to lie to her.

She just never seemed the sort to take that sort of thing without becoming aggravated.

Still, he's been wandering the ship looking for his body and feeling sorry for himself long enough, and having a conversation with someone might improve his mood. So, he quietly approaches the boss monster, making sure to keep within her line of sight and be as visible as he can be, given that he's a ghost.

What should he say? What wouldn't give him away?! Certainly his voice wouldn't, the pitch is too high...

"You're good to do that," he finally says. "Though I don't think any children will be playing here for a while."

[inruins]

The company pulls the boss monster from her work, edging back the irritation she's carrying around. Toriel doesn't want to take out her frustrations on anyone. "Ah- hello." She's surprised at the sight of a ghost monster. When did a ghost arrive?

"It is true- but, it is something I can do for until things settle again and people are well." She dusts her hands across the front of her uniform, "We're all rather fragile at the moment."

[mttbrandlegs]

"Yes. We are," he replies quietly. It's very uncharacteristic of him, but at least that works to his benefit if he's hiding who he is.

Mettaton's just not used to dying. He didn't know he could, so it's a bit of a downer to know that not only could he die, but that the possibility of losing his body was very high.

"I apologize if I am interrupting. I find the garden is just a lovely place to unwind. Well, if you ignore some of the scenery."

[inruins]

"With time, it will mend." She states softly, her expression sympathetic as she watches the pink ghost. A monster can fall from too much, a monster can fall from sadness so easily. Monsters are so fragile. "Time heals, just as it hurts."

"Ah, it is fine, dear. You need naught worry about interruption. I'm just keeping myself busy really." There isn't much else to do now in the wake of what happened.

July 6th

[pleasereset]

Toriel isn't the only monster who's visiting the garden. As she's cleaning, there's a small figure hunched over some golden flowers. Asriel's clutching his glass chest, his breathing occasionally interrupted by pained gasping. With everything that's either been destroyed, killed, or turned to glass, it's a little ironic that the golden flowers still managed to survive.

His voice is gentle as he talks to them.

"Ah... you still made it, didn't you? You all must be really strong. Ha ha, I guess we have something in common, huh?"

[inruins]

It doesn't take the boss monster long to pick out her son's voice amongst the quiet of the garden. She's quick to abandon her work to find her son. She comes to a stop a few feet behind her child, wanting to sweep him up but the glass scattered everywhere hinders that.

"Asriel?" She calls out, the breathing and gasping only makes her soul ache. What has happened to her son whilst she was gone?

1/2

[pleasereset]

The footsteps causes him to turn quickly, teeth barred and fur bristling just a little as he stumbles upward. It feels like knives piercing him, but as he gets up Toriel can still see the layer of crystal across his chest, reaching even up to his neck.

The look of momentary fear and panic lasts only a few seconds...

[pleasereset]

... Before a different kind of fear and panic settle in. Sheer relief too, and that overwhelming feeling of grief comes right back up to surface again as her death passes through his mind.

Tears are already forming in his eyes, and he's not sure if he should run to her, avoid touching her out of fear that she'll vanish, or run away. But he can't make a decision, and he hasn't moved.

"M-mom... you're back."

cw: undertale endgame spoilers

[inruins]

Her son's initial reaction just makes Toriel's expression drop, a hand pressing against her chest. Asriel, Flowey- this child has lived so many life times and seen too much. This is just another scar for him, it makes Toriel's anger towards the Captains grow all the stronger.

"I did tell you I would return." She takes a few steps forward, crouching low and carefully pulling Asriel into her grasp. She hasn't missed the glass across her son's chest, so her touch is tender and gentle.

4th

[gainedlove]

Toriel steps aside, but Frisk doesn't move. It wouldn't be outside of reason to assume they couldn't, not with how they seem to have become a statue entirely made of glass. There are no cracks in them yet, but chunks seem to be missing from the ends of their hair, broken off from movements too sudden.

They pause, reach forward, pause again. Hesitantly Frisk takes hold of Toriel's uniform, worry and concern clear in their expression.

"...'re you okay?"

[inruins]

Her distraction at the mess hall makes her falter for a moment, not realizing its Frisk before her. When the realization settles she can feel her stomach drop. Her child is made of glass. What the hell happened when she left?

"I should ask you that myself. Oh Frisk." She carefully crouches, reaching out with a cautious hand to place her hand against Frisk's cheek.

[gainedlove]

Frisk leans into Toriel's hand with a quiet sort of moan, moving close to wrap their arms around her.

"I-I dunno what happened," they mumble. "I woke up an' I was okay, an' then my chest started t' hurt, an'..."

It spread so fast.

[inruins]

Toriel has no qualms about embracing her child. This time it is far gentler than it ever has been, some fear of shattering Frisk rattles through her.

"It- it is some effect from all this glass." It is her best guess, Toriel isn't sure what happened after her own death. "Oh my child."

C!

[dragonspride]

Kain wasn't exactly sure what to make of what he woke up to on being spit out of cryo.

Hell, he was still groggy and disoriented and developing a sudden new sympathy for FuSoYa and any of the other Lunarians who woke up from sleeping like that for centuries; he'd gotten the date off his MID, but he was bad enough with the device to've not gotten much else besides warnings about glass.

He wasn't actually trying to get to the gardens, but he was a little turned around and not entirely sure where he was going; Toriel was a relief to find, even if she did look put out.

He has an awkward pause, not wanting to interrupt her, and finally just opts for trying to help gather pieces.

"What the Hell happened while I was out?"

[inruins]

The familiar voice is welcomed, a relief to the frustrations rolling through her head. Just as much of a relief to see Kain awake again. She gladly turns around, brightening up at the sight of the other monster. Even with his question, she's momentarily happy. "Kain! Goodness-"

She automatically reaches out to place a hand against his shoulder. "Dear, there was a battle here. We've... lost a bit because of it."

[dragonspride]

He wasn't sure if he should be thankful or vaguely disappointed to have been absent for something he actually has some training for. "Of course I'd end up asleep for it.", he grumbles; he's leaning far more towards not knowing how many people on the ship were combat trained and that he'd rather have at least the chance to get between the more vulnerable crewmembers and a threat.

"Are you alright?" She didn't look injured, but that didn't cover everything. And, besides that... "...What happened to the ship?"

[inruins]

She gently pats his shoulder at that, smile briefly going wry. The one person actively trained to fight and he had fallen into a coma of all things.

"I'm alright now, dear." It is the truth, best not to directly state 'i died', the young man already had enough on his plate. "It turns out the Captains destroyed some poor people's planet. The refugees from that destruction... were angry and wanted to strike back." That is the simplest terms she can settle it at. "We were instructed to kill them or we would die." It is clear enough in her tone Toriel even now finds that idea terrible foolish.

"I'm not entirely certain how half the ship became glass, but... it reflects what we saw of their ship and the refugees are gone now." She at least knew those left alive were thrown into the ingress. "It was an ugly scene."

C

[takeitslow]

He ends up at the gardens after his conversation with J, feeling the need to do something that isn't focusing on the bomb that's been dropped on him. He's missed all the action, a shame since punching something would feel awesome about now, so he'll have to settle on the clean up.

Somehow, Peter isn't surprised to see Toriel already there.

"Great minds think alike," he quips, moving across from her to pick at the slide. He's going at an entirely human pace today, the concentration it takes to regulate his movements another welcome distraction. "You're okay then? From whatever went on here?"

[inruins]

She chuckles softly at the quip, her gaze sliding over to the teenager. She's more than a little relieved to see the boy in one piece. "It would seem so. I'm glad you've come to help. Here- I'm sure I have extra gloves." She turns away again to root around what cleaning tools she's borrowed.

She finds human sized gloves after a moment, offering them out to Peter readily. It gives her time to at least find an answer. "Yes, I'm alright now. Are you okay, dear?"

[takeitslow]

"Oh, thanks." He reaches for the gloves, a little surprised. Peter hadn't thought about anything to protect his hands. He's careful pulling them on, taking the time in her pause to give her a once over in a quick check for obvious injuries.

"I wasn't here for any of the fighting and the damage didn't reach those tubes, so." He shrugs, deflecting as much as he can. He's at the point of processing that Peter is decidedly not thinking about what he's feeling. "Looks like none of us that were passed out in there got hurt."

[inruins]

Toriel for her part returned from death- unscathed. The bullet wound that killed her did not leave a scar or linger, Toriel considers herself lucky in that. Peter checking earns a fond kind of smile from the monster.

She's heard as much in passing, but another strong conformation eases the monster. Relief is clear enough on her features. "I'm glad of that- the fighting was already enough of a disaster, I'd hate to see anyone unable to reawaken be caught up in that."

July 6th

[detonatable]

On the playground slide, among all the glass, is a scarred child flopped uselessly on her back. The hand tucked behind her head is all crystal up to her elbow, completely see-through with the bones in her arm and hand revealed. With her normal, fleshy hand, she's poking at her stomach.

It's hard to see it from where she's sprawled out, but it's also crystallized. She mutters to herself, partly disgusted by what she sees and other part fascinated.

"Gross... I wonder if my guts are gonna fall out if the glass breaks."

[inruins]

It's hard to miss the familiar face, given their last tense conversation- Toriel pauses a little bit aways before approaching. "Don't poke yourself too hard, best not to test any glass breaking theories." Her voice is far kinder this time, a contrast to the scolding Rail earned herself during the fight.

Toriel slides some gloves on, setting aside a bucket to place loose glass in before working on the other playground equipment. Bit by bit glass is picked up, being safely placed in the bucket.

[detonatable]

Rail rolls halfway over before thinking better off it, eyebrows raised when she recognizes the figure cleaning up around the playground. Similarly, Rail's aggressiveness is gone. Her tone and expression matching that of a younger child, or at least one that's not rambling on about survival of the fittest.

"Yeah, but check this out!"

She lifts her shirt up a little, showing off her see-through stomach with an almost morbid sense of pride. It freaked her out a little too, but it wasn't hurting at least.

"I didn't even know I had this much stuff inside my stomach!"

[inruins]

The very childish act warrants a surprised kind of laugh from the boss monster, a touch of parental fondness rising to the surface. "I'm surprised you did not know- the human body is full of so much complexity."

Rail is still a little girl, a little girl who needs help. Toriel cannot fathom what this child has been through before, but she can't turn her away.