Perceptive as a small, silent, cruel thing they may be, they are too breathless, too frantic to reclaim that which has been lost, to catch his drifting and snapping back to himself.

But - smile. Smile and do not laugh, because nothing is wrong. Nothing at all! Work everything back into its core, into its CORE, and condense it into the center like something molten. Do not slip, not for a moment.

They know what happens at one's most vulnerable moment.

"Oh," says Chara, far too breezily, with not nearly enough dullness and flatness that would indicate a complete and utter lack of interest, "I just remembered something funny!"

Bright and quick. Like they never lost control for a moment. Like they never slipped at all.