lifeaftr | all those fearful eyes

Entry tags:

all those fearful eyes

Who: Asgore and OPEN
What: Asgore revives in the Temple after completely beefing his trial, and finds that he has lost his sight
When: December 19th
Where: The Storyteller's Temple > Islet #1 > Islet #3
Warnings: Don't anticipate anything; will tag if it comes up

Asgore wakes in the dark, on stone, a blazing golden soul still burning in his mind's eye.

At first he thinks he is still in the dark tunnels of the Trial, with no torch yet to light his way. But the sun is warm on his fur, and the air smells like the islands. It's still dark. His eyes are open, so...?

He sits up, hands going to his face in a sudden panic. No scarring, no dust, and he can't think of any reason why there would be. The child hadn't aimed for his face. Justice called only for his death, not putting out his eyes first.

After a frantic moment, he remembers the goldenrod that had adorned his head for weeks after his previous death. There's always a price, isn't there? This must be what it is today. It's much, much worse than a crown of flowers, yet still a small cost to pay in the face of being resurrected after so much death. Even if it weren't, there's nothing to be done about it.

Asgore rises to his feet and takes a few small, cautious steps. The stones of the temple floor are not quite even. He'd never noticed before. He remembers where the mana pool is, in relation to the temple, and that path must be well-worn. But his home is a fair distance and more than one island from here. That's going to be a difficult walk.

Still, Asgore makes it down to the mana pool before giving in and summoning his trident.

You may encounter him making his way slowly across Islet 1 or Islet 3, using the handle end of his huge red trident to feel out his path. He moves slowly, face drawn with weariness and anxiety. Though his eyes have gone milky-white, they still dart about as he tries to navigate his surroundings. He'll likely get used to being without his sight after a little time, but that's later. Today, he just wants to go home.

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[Asgore thinks for a moment, turning his head a little as if to look around. Habit.]

I...suppose I am doing alright for now. [He sounds doubtful, but also he doesn't want to make someone walk him home.] I am trying to get to the next islet, the one to the northeast. Which is...this way?

[He's not wrong; his sense of direction is decent, and he knows the route well. The thing he's pointing towards, however, is probably closer to "a bunch of trees" than "an actual direct path to the bridge".]

You're about twenty degrees off.

[If he were more...person-sized, Wash would probably be feel a little more comfortable physically shifting him, attempting to direct him in the correct path. As such, attempting to do so now would just feel - awkward, he thinks. Incredibly so.]

You need me to...? [He almost trails off with a noncommittal shrug before catching himself. Right.] I can...take you there, if you need it.

Well...

[Part of him wants to brush that off, claim that he can handle it, but he's sort of just proven that he can't. Not well, at least. As little as he wants to inconvenience anyone, it seems like it would simply be foolish pride now, to insist on blundering about the wilderness on his own.

(Also, this has been an exceptionally awful day.)]

It would not be too much trouble?

It's not a problem. I was headed that way.

[This is not, strictly speaking, a lie. He was making rounds of the islets, which is routine for him at this point - but not ideal, seeing as it hasn't actually prevented anything from happening. Nor has it done anything but perpetuate the lingering cycle of his insomnia.]

Here. I can... [One hand, gauntleted in Kevlar and titanium composite, brushes against the back of one of Asgore's paws.]

[Asgore doesn't really startle much at that. He didn't exactly expect to be touched, but it was on the list of possibilities. He does dismiss the huge red trident he was using to feel his way, though, letting it dissolve into nothing more than a few fading red sparkles.]

Thank you, then. You are very kind. [He'll let Wash take his arm or hand or whatever he's going for here.]

[The trident dissipates like burned paper - flurrying sparks and the hiss of dissolving magic. Wash blinks.]

[As long as he contextualizes it - equates it to an energy sword deploying and then fizzling out - it's easier to manage. Holding a giant...goat...paw is not something he ever thought he'd do, but...first time for everything.]

Washington. [He says it as he starts to walk, realizing belatedly that he hadn't introduced himself.] My name. It's Washington.

I am Asgore. It's good to meet you, Washington.

[He follows along. The slower pace of someone much shorter than him is actually quite comforting, under the circumstances.]

Do you live here on the islets?

Yeah. On the...one with that giant shell thing. Same one as Pyrrha, C.T. - you know them?

[He's pulling the names out that he remembers best. Off the top of his head, he's not sure who else lives in the area. Shion, maybe? And...more than that, probably. Islet 4 is actually quite reasonably populated.]

I do! They're both lovely people. Oh, dear, I do hope they're doing well...

[He doesn't recall hearing if either one of them had one of the glowing marks or not. Statistics do not appear to be in their favor. But perhaps they came out of the trials well, at least.]

They're doing...about as well as anyone can. December wasn't easy.

[Between the way it started and the midpoint, he's pretty much about ready to be done with December.]

No, I guess it wasn't.

[Asgore usually tries to be a little more optimistic, but he hasn't been having a great time either.]

Perhaps the new year will be better. Though, I admit there is not much to base that hope on.

We'll see.

[He's personally not terribly optimistic. But then, he never is.]

[They cross the bridge from one islet to the next, and he starts sweeping the surrounding houses - cleaner and firmer, now that Harv has renovated them.

Which house is yours? Anything outside it?

[The feeling of stone under his paws is familiar, and more comforting than he'd ever imagined. It's the first time he's known, for sure, exactly where he is since he left the mana pool.]

It is not one of the homes in this main circle. I live a little farther this way - [He nods off towards the right, presumably meaning somewhere past the two shacks right there.] - out on the eastern point. I do have a flower garden in the front!

[Although his is the only house down there, so you really can't miss it.]

[He doesn't put a lot of stock into the physical direction Asgore's attempting to give him, instead electing to parse the layout physically. There's one house that's slightly apart from the rest, and sure enough, there's a small selection of blooms peppered along the front.]

All right, I see it.

[He almost says something inane like - moving to engage. But he doesn't. Moving, instead, will have to do.]

[Yep, fair enough.]

The vegetable garden is in the back, such as it is. I shall have to see how well I can tend it like this.

How much maintenance are we talking there?

[He's not exactly a stand-up example, as far as good samaritans go. As far as anything goes, if he's frank with himself, which he usually is. But it doesn't seem right to just...abandon Asgore to a garden he might be incapable of maintaining, particularly when said garden is potentially useful to everyone's continued survival.]

[Asgore strokes his beard with his free hand.]

Watering, weeding, checking for bugs. I have already fertilized, and I think it will be at least a few more weeks before any pruning is necessary. So it is not as bad as it could have been!

You...gonna need help with that, or...?

[If he sounds awkward in offering, it's because he is. This is really, really not his area. At all.]

...oh. My, that is very nice of you.

[He almost doesn't even seem to know what to do with that?]

I can certainly do the watering alone. It is more or less the same thing every time, and I can feel where the soil is dry. I...suppose I could use an extra pair of eyes for the weeding? [.....] Or rather, a pair of eyes.

I'm not much of a gardener.

[It'd be more apparent if Asgore could get a look at him, but it's probably evident enough in the uncertainty in his tone. Maybe he could...recruit someone else? Someone who's better at this?]

More of a soldier.

[He winces when he says it.]

[He still hears the word in Locus's tone of voice.]

But I can...give it a shot. Are some of these crops or anything?

[Asgore's brow furrows a little. He wishes he could see the expression on Washington's face. But he was obviously wearing some kind of gauntlet, so it is no great surprise to hear that he's a soldier.]

The front is only flowers, but a few of them are useful! The ones that look like white daisies are chamomile plants, and the bluescythes - the blooms that are blue on the outside and white on the inside? They can also be made into a tea.

[Asgore gestures a little towards the flowerbeds as he speaks. Presumably it's just out of habit, though he does seem to remember generally which area each species is growing in. The rest of the plants here are just flowers Wash has probably seen growing wild around the islands - and some goldenrod? Weird.]

My herb garden is around the right, and the fruits and vegetables are behind the house. I'm sure the weeding does not need to be done right now. It has only been a few days. Perhaps you could just tell me if anything looks particularly overgrown?

[Trying to be less of a piece of a shit than he was entails, apparently, trying to help a giant goat man with his gardening, postmortem, inflicted as he is with blindness thanks to the circumstances of a temporary death.]

[He's not sure how to feel about that, so he settles instead for letting go of Asgore's hand to step closer to the gardens, looking the plants over.]

I'm no expert, but it doesn't look like anything is growing that shouldn't be. Just...a lot of flowers.

Ah, excellent.

[That was really meant as an out for Washington anyway. He's done enough already, and he didn't sound that enthused about helping with the garden.]

Thank you very much for your help. I would like to offer you a cup of tea, but I think that may prove more trouble than it is worth... [He'll have to blunder around remembering where he put everything first.]

That's fine. I'm not much of a tea drinker anyway.

[He's the kind of person who downs more coffee than is reasonable or healthy, purely to keep the crushing weight of sleep debt at bay for a little longer. Ignis had spoken truly when he said he hadn't managed to make his coffee terribly appetizing, but the caffeine was the important part of it anyway.]

I've got some coffee plants, but they weren't originally mine.

Really? I have never grown coffee plants, but this seems like the perfect climate for them.

[He doesn't ask whose they were originally. The way people come and go here, it seems like it might not be the most pleasant subject.]

Tea plants also do well in tropical environments. I have asked the Storyteller for a few of my own. [He frowns, realizing.] Oh, dear, I hope they do not arrive while I am like this.

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