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I'm not - gonna - spoil it!

[There is no escaping the tickle fight, so Frisk does what they must: roll over. And keep rolling. And keep rolling.

In fact, they roll right off the bed and just keep going.]

[Huh. They started off playing Keep-Away, now they're playing Ball Game. They sort of wonder if Frisk would just roll right out the room and onto eternity if they opened the door right now.

However, they have a mightier tactic. One that will put an end to all rolling by force.

They sit on Frisk. Just. Park themselves right on Frisk's back. Behold! The unshakable might of an actually-pretty-scrawny preteen. None shall escape their impressive weight.]

* Chara blocks the way!

Struggle outta this, nerd.

[Oof. Oh, that's playing dirty.]

No fair!

[Crap, and no SAVE points. Ah, well. Time to get inventive. Frisk is quite good at squirming out of tight spots, after all.

They work their hand out from under the combined weight of Chara's body and their own - the one holding the pencil, that is - and start poking every inch of Chara they can twist around to reach. Not very hard, but just enough to be an irritation.]

[Ow. Ow. Oh nooo, how can they endure this barrage of mildly annoying gentle prods, etc.

They're determined, but there's still a point (badum-tssht) where...

Hee hee hee! C'mon, Chara, let me win!

The monster always wins when you play Humans and Monsters. Monsters are much more delicate than humans are, there's a point where you have to remind yourself of that. 20 HP, 0 AT, 0 DF. Pretty low numbers. Frisk's kind of a wimpy baby, right? So... they can be the monster this time.

So Chara gasps melodramatically. Clutches their leg where they got prodded last.]

No! This power!! How could you defeat meeeee?

[And they sort of... topple sideways off Frisk. Thump. There's an Emmy out there with their name on it.]

I always remember your name, Heats Flamesman!

[They snicker as Chara milks that defeat for all its worth, and then seize the opportunity to shove the notebook under their bed with all the rest of the miscellany beneath. Try finding it now.]

[They prop themselves up on their elbows, ever-so-surreptitiously trying to spot the notebook. It was here a second ago, right? Still under Frisk, maybe...?]

What, is that his name? I thought he was Hots Coolguy.

You forgot?! How could he be so easily defeaaaaaated!

[Hots Coolguy. Chara pls.]

Wow, Coldman Browbeats, don't take it so personally. We can't even get the hang of remembering our own names.

I guess you've got a good point.

[They sit up straight, and what's this? The notebook is ~gone.

Well, no, it's under their bed. But for all intents and purposes, it's ~gone.]

Was that you forgetting Heats Flamesman half the time, or me?

[What to heck ????

Did they cram it into a Dimensional Box? WHAT SORCERY IS THIS. Chara's... totally not casting looks all over the floor or anything. They're subtle. Super subtle.]

It didn't change anything if you remembered Fires Grillguy or not. Unnecessary information. Why waste time on it, right?

It clearly mattered to him.

[They can't help but be a little amused that Chara's so clearly trying to pick up where they left off, but Frisk crosses their legs and sits there, perfectly innocent.]

Anyway. You excited for your birthday?

[They narrow their eyes suspiciously at Frisk. Have they just been outsmarted? Bamboozled?? Tricked?! Where did it go.]

...Nah. It's not really my birthday, right? We're just pretending I have one.

Right! So it's like your birthday either way!

[Can't argue with logic, Chara! Logic.]

Whatever. Birthdays are stupid, anyway.

[They say, lying through their teeth.]

If you get invited to a birthday party, and the present you bring isn't good enough, then you have to let the birthday person go to your house and take YOUR stuff. And if it's your birthday, there's a tradition called the birthday bumps. They pick you up, and they swing you a bit, and then they throw you down the stairs.

...I don't think that's true.

[Frisk cocks their head to one side. It's true they haven't had a lot of fondly memorable birthdays, but "birthday bumps" sounds a bit much.]

Your birthdays weren't like that, were they?

It's definitely super true.

Anyway, I told you: I don't have birthdays. I willed myself into existence at age... what did I say? 200? As a demon, I have actually existed since before time itself came into being. I merely adopt a new name and face, and therefore a new identity, when I am summoned. You know, for kicks. Because variety is the spice of life.

[Frisk rolls their eyes. Fine, fine.]

Then I guess I'll have to try super hard to make your birthday extra-special, since it's your first one yet. Right?

Your birthday. ...Our birthday.

It's going to be the first real one you've had, right? Shouldn't you be concerned with making it special for yourself?

It'll be special! It'll be special because I've never had anyone to celebrate it with before.

[There it goes, Frisk's saccharine delight frothing out all over again. Except it's one hundred percent genuine.]

...I still find it so strange to think you didn't have friends before you fell. All you ever do is please people. I don't think anyone here dislikes you even a little bit.

[They lie back down on the floor, look at the ceiling. Easier to fix themselves on than Frisk's sugary-sweet sentimentality.]

I bet it was like Papyrus. He talked like he didn't have friends when you first met him, but he had Undyne and Sans and... actually, pretty much everybody loves him.

[All it took was killing him, after all, to ensure an ending where monsterkind was not willing to greet future fallen humans as friends. Right?]

It was harder to make friends on the surface. Not a lot of people...um, not a lot of people wanted to listen to anything a little kid had to say.

[It's painful to admit it, painful to think about, but...well, Chara understands where they come from, a little bit, they think.]

[They consider asking about other little kids, people their own age, but...

You're not like other kids, Chara, their parents tell them, and it turns out to be true. Sometimes the things they talk about are creepy to other kids. Like the normal, everyday things that happen to them are incomprehensible, frightening, abnormal. They can't join the soccer team, because uniforms and cleats cost money, because the very notion of your parents picking you up and dropping you off is laughable.

Your parents don't like the idea of you being too far from their supervision, and you're such a little hellion, so you're grounded all the time. Even if your presence only ever seems to be a bother, a burden, an annoyance. Can't go out on weekends, have to come straight home from school, they go through your backpack, dig through your room, read your emails.]

You just... can't talk to people, right? You can't do sleepovers, summer camp, can't go to the movies... you miss out on all the things they talk about. Even when you're around them, you can't think of anything to say.

[Ha...ha. Yeah. Frisk pulls their knees up to their chest and wrap their arms around them, propping their chin atop one kneecap.

Somehow they knew Chara would get it. Their words resonate with them a little too fiercely, too closely, too firmly, but they don't mind talking about this with Chara, so much. Chara understands it.]

Yeah. Once you do go out...there's nothing to do, is there? You always have to go back anyway. It's like there's no point.

Why even try, right?

[Frisk... agrees. Understands. It's... they don't know how they feel about that. Don't look over. Just keep staring at the ceiling.]

I thought it didn't work for me because I was mean. Bad. Whatever. Nobody wants to be around someone who's awful, right?

[That smile doesn't fool anyone. You're not nice, or polite, or cheerful, you're just pretending. Being a liar, a sneak. Two-faced. But Frisk... they do it right, don't they? They're optimistic, they're sunny, they're sweet. They get along with people. They try really hard to understand people. The idea that they didn't get understood back, even despite that, is...]

It's... is it different here, though? Are people any... I don't know, easier to...?

Humans are...humans are weird.

[They laugh. It sounds so ridiculous. Humans are weird. But they are, aren't they?]

They get mad when you try to fit in, and they laugh at you when you don't. Sometimes they're all awful together in a group, and it's okay for them to be, but when you say anything back to them it's wrong.

I guess...a lot of them are better here, right? Like Dipper, and Mabel.

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