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[Despite the fact she knows it's Frisk, River can't help but open the door a crack to peek out and make sure it's them.]

What's the password?

Um...

[Frisk tips their head to one side, puzzled. Password? No one ever said anything about a password. That's not fair!

They really can only think of one password, and...

Well, all right then.

Frisk sets their shoulders and says with reasonable confidence:]

I'm a stupid doo-doo butt?

Edited 2016-07-19 18:14 (UTC)

[River stares at Frisk.

What a password.]

You're not. But you can come in.

[She leaves the door cracked open and disappears into the room to sit on her bed, letting Frisk enter on their own.

It really is a mess in here. Clothes and water bottles and discarded candy wrappers all around, but all that aside it's a very simple room. Sparse furnishings, only what's absolutely needed. A bed, a nightstand, a desk with a chair, and that's it.]

[Hey, that's two for two for that password, so that bodes well! Frisk slips inside and lets the door shut quietly behind them. The room is kind of a mess, but that's not makes them pause. The thing that really prompts hesitation is the fact that there's no real personality to it. Everyone's room that they've been to has all been furnished at least somewhat, with a few trinkets or pictures or pieces of furniture to remind them of home. But here there's nothing.

They elect to sit at the desk chair.]

...sorry. That was a, a password back home. I didn't know what else to say.

[River looks around at her room. It's only that she doesn't like being reminded of home, for all that she misses it and wants to avoid it indefinitely. She doesn't know what to do with her room. Maybe she'll figure it out someday. But it seems like a lot of work she's not sure she can handle at the moment.]

It's okay. The password thing was a joke, I think.

[She's not making a very good impression on her friend, is she? What does she do for them? Give them candy and make them uncomfortable.]

[She thinks. Well, it's nice that she was easing them into it somewhat. Frisk giggles. It reminds them a little bit of Chara, and that's always nice.

They reach into the bag and scoop out a handful of candies, holding them out to her.]

Sans taught me that one. "I'm a stupid doo-doo butt."

[She takes some candies, opening one and biting it in half. She always liked the creaminess of these ones.]

Sans... I met him recently. Think I scare him.

[Frisk follows suit, savoring the sticky sweetness with a relish.]

I used to scare him too, a little bit. But now we're friends. He's kind of...I guess he doesn't always like it when people know stuff when he doesn't want them to.

[River almost asks, "What's scary about you?" but then she remembers very suddenly and flinches slightly.]

It wasn't that... Well, not especially. I was... not lucid, when I met him. He doesn't like sudden movements.

[She eats the second half of the candy. He's not the first person she freaked out during a turbulent time.]

...I guess he wouldn't. What...happened between you two? You don't have to answer! [They add that hastily, if belatedly.] I just don't think you two have to be weird around each other or, or nervous or anything.

I don't know. Said some words. Outside the... the library. [The one she couldn't enter because of Frisk. She swallows.] Babbled and... talked words. Can barely remember what I said. He was uncomfortable.

Hmm.

[They doubt Sans would forget something like that. He's always had a pretty good memory, hasn't he? Hah. Yeah. That's a funny joke, and they feel bad for thinking of it.]

I don't think he'd hold it against you. I know he can be a little scary sometimes, but he's really nice. And he tells really great jokes.

I believe you. [River's just really bad at first impressions.] I'll... try again someday.

[She pops another candy into her mouth thoughtfully.] It's nice that he's here.

Yeah. It is. He's...he's had some difficult stuff he's had to deal with. But that's not his fault.

[Ha-ha. No, it's not. It's theirs.]

[River stares at Frisk.]

He's your friend. He likes you.

Yeah.

[Probably skimmed that off their surface thoughts. Easy enough with them. They've always worn such things on their sleeve.]

But it's complicated. I mean it's, it's always complicated. But that's not his fault either.

[River doesn't want to be... intrusive. She curls up on the bed and hugs her knees, resting the side of her head against them thoughtfully. This line of thought isn't good. They're treading dangerously close to what they fought about in the library. She doesn't know what to say. She doesn't know what's right.]

I guess... we always make things complicated.

[Frisk laughs, though there's not much humor to it, ducking their head as if embarrassed.]

I guess we kind of do. But that's not really...we didn't ask for this. Not either of us. The most we can do is just try and, and do our best with it.

[Frisk isn't laughing because anything's funny, but it's not... bad laughter, not really, so a small smile hangs around the edges of River's lips. Plus, Frisk is saying something like it's not entirely their fault, which is encouraging.]

Yes... That's right.

[She kind of always messes up somehow, though. She bites her lip.]

Just wish there was less trial and error. Never did like resorting to brute forcing a problem. Wish I could just know what I should do.

Someone should've given us a manual.

[That one is a straightforward joke, Frisk's shoulders shaking in a more solidified chuckle. What To Do If You've Suddenly Found Yourself With Psychic And/Or Improbable Time Powers, Volume I.]

[River gives a small giggle.

But she wonders if she would've gotten one if only the Academy had more time to test her, if she would've been less an alpha release of herself.

She frowns at a candy and eats it almost angrily.]

Both exceptions. Both early releases. They'll be writing manuals based on what we do.

[Frisk unwraps another and pops it into their mouth, rolling it around with their tongue.]

Maybe. Maybe we can just be anomalies together.

An anomaly... Something unprecedented, unaccounted for, something that exists outside of rigidity and structure.

I like it. Not even forces of entropy, entropy exists within the system. Entropy is accounted for. We're larger than that.

[Entropy. That's one of those big words, like quantum and metatemporal and stuff, a word they remember reading in one of those big books in the library. It's a word that stands for...decay, they think. Or the universe's general equivalent.]

Yeah. We're...undefined. Get to define ourselves. No one tells us who or what we are except us.

[Defining oneself. Something River struggles with. Here, I'm not a monster. Or no one can shoot like that that's a person. She's been sure she's something different than human, fought against that. This is the one topic on which everyone else is better informed than she is. She's not a person, she's Serenity, she's not a monster, she's nothing at all...

An anomaly. That comes closer to describing her than anything else. An anomaly. She can be an anomaly.

And the best part of that is, she's not even alone in it. Her friend is an anomaly, too.

Her friend.]

Being exceptions makes us exceptional.

I'm glad you're my friend, Frisk. You make more sense than anyone else.

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