November & December Test Drive Meme

[thewakemods]

It's that time again!

→ Comment with a new character you'd like to test out in the game's setting. (put character/canon in subject line pls!)
→ You don't have to be in the game to comment! HI NEW PEOPLE LET US ENABLE YOU.
→ Tag around with new and old characters.
→ App all those characters
→ ???
→ PROFIT!

**NOTICE** - For new series and recent updates/occurrences to existing ones, please mark as SPOILERS if you must refer to such, but please use your own discretion in general.

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[resettheworld]

He was different, to be sure. Asriel knew he was different. He had designed it this way. It was his imagination that crafted this image. Yet it was him. He smiled wide, his fangs hardly any longer than they were when he was younger. His horns were fully in now and he wore the royal robes of his mother. No more childish stripped sweater. When he spoke, his voice was deeper with the echo and yet it was recognizable. The words, however, were exactly as he would have said.

"Howdy, Irene! Long time no see. I missed you."

[dimeliora]

And for a moment, the world stopped.

It wasn't a sensation completely new to the guardian. She'd felt it plenty of times in life, in death, when the rest of everything faded into a dim cloud around what lied in front of her. For that moment, the city faded. The Task Force faded. The datapads that were waiting in her office, the multiverse beyond the gates, thoughts of Tamriel, it all faded.

All that remained was him.

He was so much taller, he'd grown so much in only a few measly years, and his garb alone emanated... a sort of confidence, Irene supposed, if she had to describe it.

If this was a storm, or one of the Aeon's tricks, Irene promised herself that Nautilus would be taking a sword to its heart for this one. Antovil and his stupid arrows be damned, there were some things you just don't joke about.

"Asriel," Irene finally managed, when it didn't feel like her throat was closing on her. "You... you came back...!"

[resettheworld]

The words surprised him. Did Irene think he would never some back? Did he tell her the story of what happened to him as Flowey? Did she go poking around his world and witness his death? Perhaps she just gave up hope. She lost some of her DETERMINATION. It was odd to think about but perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise. Not everyone can be as determined as him and Chara. No. They were special.

So was she. He smiled wider at the words and closed the distance. It was strange looking down at her now. He was taller than Irene now. By a head and horns but still. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a comforting hug. Just like she would when he was small.

"I came back. I wanted to see you again. I'm sorry I took so long."

[dimeliora]

And that was when all prospects of this being some sort of cruel joke faded with the rest of the world.

Irene threw her arms back around him, and felt her breath hitch as her grip tightened.

It was real.

He was real.

"Don't apologize," Irene said, as... sheer happiness struck her very being like a stray bolt of lightning. It flowed from the core of her being, through her aurals, until her wings streamed out like wisps of smoke from her back and joined her arms in drawing Asriel close.

The warmth and glow of those wings would speak more than words ever could.

It was the happiest she'd been in weeks.

"Baeron, don't apologize. I'm just happy to see you again...! When did you...? How long have you been here?"

[resettheworld]

The amazing wings told him all he needed to know. Warmth spread through his body and filling him with a warmth that only had one name; love. Irene loved him and he loved her. She was his second mother. The woman who raised him here in Nautilus. One of the people he could count on no matter what. Well, with the exception of a city changing Storm or Nautilus himself deciding to pull a prank. Those didn't count. Right now all that counted were arms and wings. All that mattered was now.

"I'm happy to see you too. I only just got back. I was walking. Thought it best to see the city before I posted on the network. You know. See what's changed in the City of Change. I'm so glad you found me though. I was going to head to your cottage soon. I might have missed you." It was all the truth. There was no reason to lie. He had ideas and plans but nothing for now. Now was reuniting and enjoying his time with the people he missed. Making new friends to replace the ones that left.

"Hmm. You still give the best hugs, Mom."

[dimeliora]

Mom.

Baeron, how long had it really been since she'd had a moment like this? If Hei had been here, it would have been perfect. Perfect for everything it felt like she'd lost in the past few years, perfect in exchange for the missteps, and yes, even the aggravation of having to deal with Endos.

"You too, kiddo."

She tightened her grip, then gently pulled away to better look at him.

"Speaking of change... looks like you sprang up a few feet," Irene said, mouth pulled into a genuine smile. "And your horns! You were always an adorable kid. I always knew you were gonna be a handsome one when you got older."

[resettheworld]

Asriel ran a hand through his fur and over his horns. A sense of pride welled up inside him. It was from himself but he knew it was also from his Mom and Dad's SOULs. They were proud to hear their son had grown up to be handsome. He grinned and let out a small chuckle. He stepped back so she could get a full look at him. At his form as a god. Maybe he should tell her that later.

"I grew up. A lot happened. A lot a lot," He paused. Time to ask. "Did you ever go poking around my world to find out what happened? To me, I mean."

[dimeliora]

Irene paused. Should she tell him what she'd seen, then?

Of course, she hadn't watched to the very end. No.

The guardian's heart had only been able to take so much, and while Asriel's fate hadn't surprised her, not really... still, the question had clamored in her skull ever since. How they could do it. How they could kill someone, a child, a child who refused to fight back, and call themselves human. How they could dare call themselves human.

And more importantly... how could she stand back and let it happen?

Already, she could hear Klement's words answering that last question: was the risk worth it?

Was the chance at him being Unmade along with everyone else worth a swing of her swords?

Would ruining his chance to ever Wake again worth a single moment of righteousness?

God, Irene's conscience had screamed at that one. It was like a branding iron in her own mind, tearing, twisting.

"I saw... what they did." Irene quietly managed that much. She tried her best, her hardest to bite down the anger that tinged those words. "If... if it hadn't been your very existence on the line, those idiots would have paid for that."

It was more than mere anger. It was sorrow beyond words.

Beyond measure.

[resettheworld]

Those words echo in Asriel's ears. No, not the words but the emotions they hold. They twist in his guts and make his head hurt a little. She had seen it then. Seen him die. Seen him turn to dust and his SOUL shatter. Monsters didn't exist after death. They couldn't. It just wasn't how things worked. Even for a BOSS monster like Asriel. Still, she had seen it. Irene's reaction made so much more sense now. She hadn't stayed though. She hadn't seen the experiments or his RESETs as Flowey. She hadn't watched Frisk and their RESETs.

Good.

He didn't want her to see that. He moved in again and wrapped his arms gently around her shoulders.

"Shhh. It's okay. I'm here now. And the humans, they did what humans do. They lash out at the things they fear. I'm not mad at them anymore. So you don't have to be either. I understand now." He meant it all too. There was sincerity in his strange new voice. He wasn't mad at the humans. He had more power than they ever could now. Once he had the DETERMINATION, he would just reset them all. He'd RESET everything back to the original SAVE. He would fix everything.

"I'm just glad I don't have to tell you now. You understand. One day, I'll tell you what happened after. But let's be happy today. It's a sad story. Have you eaten? I could go for some Cinnamon Butterscotch pie. What about you?"

[dimeliora]

It's a gamble. If you're wrong, is it worth the price?

The question was the incessant anchor that kept Irene from breaking the rules. Irene knew now the implications, the possibilities that rose in the ruptured reality of other worlds, why things had to be the way they were. Klement had gotten that through to her well enough, but damn it, it still hurt.

Irene wrapped her arms gently around him right back. "I'm sorry," she said gently. "I'm sorry you had to see that firsthand, baby. I'm sorry." And the fact that he could forgive them, it amazed her, but she supposed it didn't surprise her. Not at all. The kid could forgive just about anything, that much she could sense. All the goodness, the light in the aer he carried, that had always been apparent from day one.

Maybe that was what had drawn her to him to begin with, the chance to protect that shining light.

If only because his own world sure as hell didn't.

She drew back from him.

"I'd say you're right, there. It's so... good to see you again. I think we could make cinnabunnies too, since I've been practicing with those." Irene smiled. "I've been missing my baking partner."

[resettheworld]

"That sounds amazing. Cinnabunnies and Butterscotch Cinnamon pie. And tell glasses of hot chocolate?" Asriel liked the sound of this. A nice calm night of delicious baked goods and hot chocolate. Who in the world could say no to that?

"Let's go home. I want to see my room again."

[dimeliora]

"With marshmallows," Irene added. She may not have been a philistine, but she wouldn't blaspheme hot chocolate by making him go without.

At that last part, she chuckled a little as she began walking back towards the north. "It might be a little bigger than you remember," she said, keeping her pace leisurely. "There have been a couple scuffles in the city since you've been gone, kiddo. I had to remodel the house after repairing damages, and I decided a little expansion couldn't hurt."