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[Okay, now she's laughing in earnest, imagining Chara with that screwed-up pouting face all blue. When Frisk mentions the water, she laughs harder.]

Y-Yeah! Get h-his bones all frozen, and, h-he'd be so mad! And the w-water over the door is, uh, y-you know! Classic.

We could make it so he'd go in expecting some other prank, like we did something inside, and would just end up with water - all over!

[Wow, thinking up pranks is actually kind of fun.]

Yeah! Tease him l-like, letting him c-catch us doing something else, but it's not w-what he thinks! Thats, uh, r-really devious, Frisk.

[She's so proud. Go, small child. Prank the hell out of this skeleton. He deserves it.]

I didn't know how fun this could be.

[They sound almost surprised at it. They've never engaged in a prank war before. It's mostly been one-sided stuff, like Sans dumping ketchup all over their fries or burg.]

Have you done this before? You're pretty good at this!

Well, I--

[She stops. She has done this before, she thinks, a long time ago. It was Sans, but there was someone else there, wasn't there? It was just them at first, until they both got hit by their papers getting switched around, translated to something she couldn't understand but made Sans laugh. It... It must have been years, now. Maybe that's why she didn't remember it clearly. That would make sense. Of course.]

Uh, y-yeah, a long time ago. I d-don't remember exactly what w-we did though... it's, uh, nice t-to be getting back to it, though! It's pretty fun, w-when there's the time.

[It's probably for the best Frisk can't think of things or people that don't exist. They don't even make the connection. Thinking about it makes their head hurt, anyway.]

Well, at least we've got plenty of time here.

[They watch all those parts come together with fascination, the deft engineering that Alphys excels at.]

Not much else to do, really.

[She continues to work, putting together the outside shell of the little robot, and beginning to screw on it's small arms.]

I mean, the b-best we can do is, uhm, keep ourselves busy, r-right? And have s-some fun with it along the way!

[She grins, calibrating the wheel on the bottom by spinning it a bit.]

If we're gonna, uh, b-be stuck here, we might as w-well enjoy ourselves, a l-little bit.

[Frisk snickers. This is turning out to be a pretty weird week, not that they're complaining.]

Do you think Undyne's any good at pranks and stuff?

No.

[That was a little abrupt, and maybe too fast, but Alphys looks like she's having war flashbacks.]

Undyne's idea of pranks, is, uh... r-really destructive. And u-usually involve rocks. I wonder if, uh, I c-can talk her into less, uhm, d-death related pranks...

Um...

[Has she forgotten Frisk's roommate? Frisk's "I'm going to chuck fifty bottles of ketchup at Sans's window" roommate?]

I mean...Chara broke Sans's window. With some bottles of ketchup.

[It's not like the second floor can get any more chaotic right?

...riiiiiiiiight?]

N-No, I mean, the p-punchline of most of Undyne's, uhm, pranks i-is the person dying. So, uhm, it's p-probably not safe. Chara, uh, a-at least hasn't killed a-anyone though, uh, pranks yet.

I bet I c-can get Undyne to, uh, replace s-some of the more, deadly aspects t-though. She's r-really good, uhm, at digging pitfalls.

Oh.

[That's.........a very valid point.]

Well, maybe we'll stick to nonlethal. That's, um, probably best.

[Yeah, they still remember Undyne's idea for a "puzzle". A line of receptacles you're meant to puke into, right?]

Yeah... s-she could be good at it, but uh. She just, uhm, n-needs someone to check up on her s-stuff.

[She smiles, a little gently.] She's... p-plenty good at other things, though, s-so it's fine.

Like suplexing boulders?

[Just because she can! Or suplexing skeletons. Or...suplexing anyone. Including Frisk.]

She's pretty strong, at least. So if we need anything heavy lifted, I guess...

Yeah. E-Exactly like that.

[It's endearing, when she's not trying to murder someone. It's still a little endearing even then.]

That c-could, uh, be r-really useful though. Maybe-- oh! What if we got Undyne to lift Sans' bed when he's sleeping? A-And put him on the roof!

Oh my gosh!

[They clap both hands over their mouth, delighted.]

That's brilliant. He wouldn't even wake up, you know how heavy of a sleeper he can be!

Hey, Frisk! This is Ford! I got all my memories back, then I was gone for a week, and when I came back, I was badly injured! [He says this like it's just part of a regular lighthearted conversation.]

Anyway, I'm all healed up now and I thought I would check in to see how you're doing.

[a pause. he clears his throat]

... And to thank you for talking to me while I had amnesia and while you were uncontrollably sad. I'm sure that wasn't easy for you, but it did help me quite a lot.

Take care of yourself, kid.

[END VOICE MESSAGE]

[OH. Oh wow, they feel really bad for not being able to contact him sooner. But there was Chara, and then there were emotions, and then there were zombies, and...Chara.

They scramble to respond and leave a hasty voice message.]

Are you - are you okay?

[It comes out a little squeaky because um badly injured??? How badly injured are we talking here?????]

I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. It's been...kind of a mess.

[He replies right away, not expecting an answer so soon!] Haha, yeah. I ran into some trouble at home, but I met some wizards and a witch here who healed me up, good as new.

Don't worry about it, by the way. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you. It seems like we just had our hands full. [Torture trauma. Emotions. No emotions. Healing. Lots of pain. Weapons testing. Zombies.]

Oh, right! I forget there's, um, there's a lot of people here who are good at that sort of thing.

[Makes sense. And they can relax a little bit, now that they know that Mr. Pines isn't on the brink of death or anything. Because that's fun for no one.]

And you're all right after those last few events? Some of them were...some of them were pretty bad...

[He almost was for a little while. Death is no fun at all.]

Yes, of course! I've traveled to all kinds of other dimensions, so it was... manageable. My niece and nephew were on that pirate ship and I holed up in my room with my brother.

[He's more concerned about Frisk. No one should be alone with zombies. Especially kids.] ... How are you holding up? I was worried. Most people aren't equipped to handle anything like that. Was there anyone you could stay with?

I'm okay. My roommate is...well, they looked after me. Kept me safe through the whole thing.

[They're not sure if he knows about Chara. Though if his last name is "Pines"...

Oh. Oh wow. They'd recognized his voice and worked out that "Ford" was the same name as the giant man with the moniker "Pines" they met in the garden, but they'd been a bit too distraught to put the pieces together when they first met.]

Your niece and nephew - you mean Dipper and Mabel?

[Ford gets so excited at the mention of the kids.] Yes, that's them! I wouldn't be surprised if you knew them already. They like to get into trouble. [He chuckles. IF ONLY HE KNEW TO WHAT EXTENT...]

I'm really glad you had someone. [Survival mode in isolation is . . . his life. It is not ideal.] If you ever need any help, you give me a call.

Yes! They were some of the first friends I made here!

[Aha...yeah wow kids like them ~~should be burning in hell~~ should be trying not to get into quite as much trouble as they do, huh?]

Thanks! And, um, same to you. I know I'm...I might be just a kid but, uh...

[They trail off. They're not just a kid. That's not the truth of what they are, at all.]

I did say I'm really determined.

Yeah! H-He'd just wake up outside, a-all of a sudden!

[She devolves into a fit of giggles.]

We gotta s-save that one! For something, uh, r-really big. Keep it f-for when we really need to get him.

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