Archive of Our Own ^beta

PAIN THRESHOLD - The body knows before the mind: it is time to rise. Greet this day like all the rest.

REACTION SPEED [Trivial: Success] - Your phone's alarm makes it less than five seconds before being put to sleep, then shut off entirely.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - The alarm has been modified, playing back your own tinny recording of a character's theme from Dragon Blazers: Revision. More specifically, a slowed variant of the boy from the future's theme which only plays after his heroic sacrifice. The unmodified track has been uploaded - illegally - in much higher quality, but never this version.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Challenging: Success] - Amidst fellow enthusiasts you have made nearly double digits requests for someone with a capture card or better know-how to do what you cannot. Though most attempts resulted in radio silence, one fellow forum member spent several days trading laborious direct messages teaching you how to perform basic audio editing using a free program. Before that moment they had never interacted with you. The forum shut down soon after.

ESPRIT DE CORPS - You suspect the slowed variant used in the game must be altered by a percentile too specific and bizarre to be guessed at correctly as it never sounded right to your ears even *with* assistance. Still, the original recording is a fine reminder that you are not completely isolated.

SHIVERS [Medium: Success] - Across the mesas and dunes, someone chasing after memories in the dark waits to fulfill a promise. Most days do not wait for you. This one does.

1. Hello??
2. What the *fir tree* am I hearing?
3. [Composure - Challenging 12] Continue as if nothing is wrong.
4. [Perception - Heroic 15] Listen for your mother.

YOU - Listen for your mother.

+2 Stayed quiet

CHECK FAILURE

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Heroic: Failure] - Your ears swivel and twitch, listening through the ever present crank and whir of the house's air conditioning… Nothing stands out.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - The carpet of your house is especially thick, built to mask the heavy steps of hooves. It has covered your quiet retreats for some time. Still, if she were doing her kata in the office upstairs you would at least hear that.

AUTHORITY [Formidable: Success] - There is nowhere that could deny this woman access. She is the mayor even when preparing meals in the kitchen or reviewing your grades. And yet you are a member of this household just the same. Act without care for where she is.

1. Hello??
2. What the *fir tree* am I hearing?
3. [Locked] Listen for your mother.

YOU - Hello??

EMPATHY - Good morning Miss Noelle.

SUGGESTION - It's a pleasure to meet you.

DRAMA - Salutations, my liege!

1. I'm not a liege! More like a… lady.

YOU - I'm not a liege! More like a… lady.

DRAMA - Apologies, milady! We will address you however you wish!

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - You scowl reflexively, still blurry eyed as you sit up in your bed with the covers drawn over your pyjamas. The delivery and voice is different, but 'milady' has always carried with it certain connotations coming from your friend.

DRAMA - Egads! Another blunder! Dash me upon the rocks, mi— erm. Hrm… Princess?

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Stuff it, jester. You can't just throw out name after name hoping one sticks -

INLAND EMPIRE [Impossible: Failure] - We can't?

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - - and as much sick amusement as it might be to watch you stick *yourself*, we can definitely come up with something better.

SAVOIR FAIRE - Yes! Something to blow them all away! A title to live up to!

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - Something to inspire respect and fear.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Failure] - Something to embarrass the narrow-minded fools who skip leg day.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Something you could append to posters or slogans if - no, when - you run for valedictorian.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Easy: Success] - Something anyone could yell fast enough to give you a heads up.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - Something that *you* like.

RHETORIC [Formidable: Success] - Something that can't be twisted into an easy insult.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Challenging: Failure] - Like the hastily scrawled initials of a former lover still tattooed to your hip, you only know that it cannot be *anything* *anyone* has called you before. There are too many reminders etched into your mind and body as is.

REACTION SPEED - Whatever you choose, don't linger on it much longer. The thought of ruining your perfect attendance record is harrowing.

INLAND EMPIRE - Those consequences would be catastrophic. *These* consequences will be mild at worst.

1. Princess is fine?
2. [Logic - Legendary 14] Combine every piece of input into a desirable title on the spot.
3. Just use my name, thanks. [Opt out.]
4. I've let my brain run over weirder things while running laps. [Opt in.]

YOU - Princess is… fine.

DRAMA - Princess, then! A lady most talented, schooled in myriad subjects, embroiled in the conspiracies and gossip of your court. The bluebird your retainer, the ragdoll your dark mage. Will you be able to make peace with the dragon? Could the knight of another land become a courtier yet? Yes! Yes, I see the story now.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Princess… It wouldn't hurt to be called something like that at all.

INTERFACING - Hm.

1. Hello??
2. What the *fir tree* am I hearing?
3. [Locked] Listen for your mother.
4. Open the window.
5. Check your inbox.
6. Admire cactus plant.
7. [Leave your room.]

YOU - Open the window.

VISUAL CALCULUS - The glass opens inwards, two bordered panes kept immaculately clean. A hefty wooden block pressed against the joinder of the two keeps it from opening even during the worst of storms or blustery nights.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - Your knees plant themselves into the couch, leaning over the high windowsill to move it aside. It's a trivial effort.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - Painted on the block is a tableau of walnuts, holiday beverages, and sprigs of herbs. It reads: "Live, Laugh, Eggnog".

REACTION SPEED - An old iron latch taps listlessly against one side, unused for years.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - It will always be open.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - Someone might need you.

SHIVERS - The world sprawls before you in slow motion. Beyond the window is the manor's rear garden and the steel-pike fence keeping wildlife out. There is a gap there, just behind the pink azalea bush, that could still be squeezed through. You…

1. Close your eyes.
2. Close the window.

YOU - Close your eyes.

SHIVERS - … and lean out into the cold wind, exposing more of yourself to it. These are not the makings of a Princess locked in a tower. There are tugs in the cold, the fingers of something brushing intimately over your neck and bare arms. The tall trees crowd out your view and the world feels smaller from where you're standing, but the wind comes from somewhere. The future's snow falls from the sky. Out in the city are buskers and commuters, railways spiderweb out ad infinitum, blowing smoke which wraps clothes in an unmistakable scent. A college student waves to friends, deadened with relief from their exams. You know the way out.

SHIVERS - … You just wish you knew where she'd gone in it all.

DAMAGED MORALE -1

COMPOSURE [Challenging: Success] - You linger in the feeling without cracking. The groundskeeper isn't there to see anything, but even if he was it wouldn't reflect on your face. You could smile if you had to right now.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) - There is no birdsong.

EMPATHY [Legendary: Success] - You remember being much younger and listening to the birds with your eyes closed while sitting in the grass, a dog-eared strategy guide marked by your own notes in the margins. It almost feels as if you must have imagined it by now. You didn't.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] - As the weather edges closer and closer to freezing temperatures, many common bird species have already begun or are soon to begin their migratory patterns south seeking warmth. The inexpert photos taken of different avian friends along the running trail that circles Hometown's graveyard has allowed you to identify some of them with reasonable confidence. If you sat still long enough at the border of the forest, you may still hear the last house sparrows preparing to depart.

ENDURANCE - You could last in the cold for a long, long time. But that sort of energy is best saved for the rest of your day.

INTERFACING - You close the window and return the block to its place.

1. Hello??
2. What the *fir tree* am I hearing?
3. [Locked] Listen for your mother.
4. Open the window.
5. Check your inbox.
6. Admire cactus plant.
7. [Leave your room.]

YOU - [Leave your room.]

HOLIDAY HOME - The main adjoining area of your home is expansive and broad, with plenty of corners, nooks, and crannies to hide behind. Tinsel swoops up and down along the walls and ceiling. Several carefully maintained art projects, holiday decorations, or family portraits take center stage space between potted flowers or ficus trees still growing. Only one door is a different from the rest.

REACTION SPEED - You don't see your mother, but…

1. Look for your mother.
2. [Perception - Heroic 15 ] Listen for your mother.
3. Head to the kitchen.
4. Get ready for school.

YOU - Listen for your mother.

+3 Less obstructions

+1 Not upstairs

+1 but…

CHECK SUCCESS

PERCEPTION [Heroic: Success] - There. The quick scratch of a sharp pen over paper. A yielding, hollow *thump* as a coffee mug is set down on the kitchen table.

RHETORIC - Your mother takes a briefcase to and from work, but you're not certain you've ever seen her take anything out of it. She never works at home, citing that 'Home is where the heart is.'. At first you'd thought it might be one of her rare jokes given her odd affinity towards heart-shaped objects. It wasn't. If she's not working, then what is she writing about?

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - It could easily be a letter. Maybe to your aunt who you vaguely remember, or one of the other names that still crop up on the tags to your presents every year. Keeping in touch is an important part of securing your slice of the pie when things go wrong, and it's clearly been working in your favor enough to get presents or money from people you don't even remember meeting.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - Perhaps it has to do with your father, hm?

VOLITION - Careful.

DRAMA - What? I didn't even say anything!

VOLITION - And you won't say any more.

EMPATHY - You don't need to *hear* more. There are thoughts and feelings winding up like a pitcher at the mound, but you've been getting hit and taking first base every time. Like yourself and Kris, like yourself and your mother, something has changed - or *been changing* - between your mother and father. They're keeping you clear of it with ease, in part because you haven't pressed. But you're still trapped on first. Never stealing to second, always somehow at bat again. Are you supposed to take a swing? Should you move? It never happens.

DAMAGED MORALE -1

EMPATHY - … Sorry.

1. No, it's good to hear.
2. You should be! It's too early in the morning for this.

YOU - No. It's… good to hear.

INTERFACING - Hm?

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Doe, you need a pick me up. Get some eggnog with your breakfast, check under the tree and shake a present, pack a couple gingerbread monsters into your lunch. Do something a little *jolly* before you split.

New task: Get jolly

1. Head to the kitchen.
2. Get ready for school.

YOU - Head to the kitchen.

HALF LIGHT [Easy: Success] - Wait.

1. What?
2. [Ignore him.]

YOU - What?

HALF LIGHT - There's no guarantee it's your mother inside. You should arm yourself before checking.

LOGIC - While the chance of an invader is non-zero, Hometown's crime rate is astronomically low. Even your estate has no security alarms or cameras. It is deeply unlikely to be anyone else.

HALF LIGHT - And yet…

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - Your mother may respect it or feel more at ease knowing you're prepared to defend yourself.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - *Or* it could add to her paranoia over your safety. What kind of young woman is afraid even in her own home?

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - One who's been hurt inside of it.

EMPATHY - What!? Your mother has *never* hit you. Neither has anyone else in your family.

HALF LIGHT - It doesn't matter. You'll feel better if you do it.

1. Head inside.
2. Arm yourself, quickly.

YOU - Head inside.

HOLIDAY HOME - A broad kitchen island separates your appliances from the carpeted dining area. One of your mother's katanas are held aloft over the stovetop: useful for preparing vegetables and cutting the crusts off of sandwiches alike. The highly climbable tree maintains its healthy candor, while the piano has had its lid closed and keys protected. It looks more like an alabaster decoration than the beautiful instrument you know it to be.

PERCEPTION - She's at the table, back hunched over a large piece of paper. Your mother barely keeps from placing an elbow on the table and pinches the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed, letting out a frustrated sigh.

REACTION SPEED - Now's your chance!

1. Chance for what?

YOU - Chance for what?

REACTION SPEED - To see what she's up to, obviously!

VOLITION - Your mother rarely ever speaks about work *or* her personal life. She fulfills her role in obligate, though you can believe she loves you as much as you still love her. You want to get to know her better as a growing woman, but it's unclear if this will help.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - The large paper is curled upwards at its sides, keeping you from seeing much of anything at this angle. Between your mother's body and the curled edge there's only a sliver of clarity. It's not enough.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - If it's a personal project of hers, it might be nice to do some part of it together. Like sharing a video game with your father.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Trivial: Success] - Despite its namesake, a 'blueprint' does not need to be printed on blue paper. Any color will suffice.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Medium: Success] - She *might* be breaking her own rules to put in overtime. Who's going to stop a woman like her? Not your father. Not you. The festival is in two days, the internet is still down, and you've noticed how quickly the good snacks are disappearing.

DRAMA [Challenging: Failure] - … Well, okay, it's pretty big for a secret letter, but there's always a chance!

1. What if I don't want to see it at all?

YOU - What if I don't want to see it at all?

INTERFACING - Then that would also be an option, of course. See?

1. Leave the kitchen.
2. Get breakfast. Normal style.
3. [Savoir Faire - Challenging 12] Sneak around to get a better look.
4. [Empathy - Easy 9] Ask if it's something you can help with.
5. [Composure - Legendary 14] Confidently join her at the table.
6. Observe the piano.
7. Observe the tree and presents.

YOU - Ask if it's something you can help with.

+2 You want to know her

+1 LOVE

-1 Stuck on first

CHECK SUCCESS

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - You approach her like you would anyone else. It's a bit of a task given how varied interactions with your mother can be, but you put forward a genuine and curious smile with ease. Your heart is on your sleeve, unguarded.

1. "Good morning! What's that?"
2. "Good morning. Are you drawing something?"
3. "Is work going okay?"
4. "Mom! It's nice to see you at home."

YOU - "Good morning. Are you drawing something?"

CAROL HOLIDAY - She doesn't startle, but her posture corrects itself as she folds the paper inward. "Noelle. Good morning." Her eyes meet yours. "No. I don't believe I've drawn a thing since college. This is related to a favor."

RHETORIC - So it *is* a drawing.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - Your height gave you a small advantage in catching a glimpse.

INTERFACING - Notes and arrows pointed inward to a larger shape. Your eyes were stuck on the words, trying to make out the pristine cursive. In the end you failed to truly take in either, the retroactive image already a smudge in your mind.

DRAMA [Formidable: Success] - A little fib could loosen her lips further.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - There's no need to rush. You already have her attention.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - She won't take the first one well.

1. "You owe someone a favor?"
2. "Did you take art in college?"
3. "Did you ever make something with dad?"
4. [Drama - Challenging 12] Imply you saw what it was.
5. "Is it anything I can help with?"
6. [Back out now.]

YOU - "Did you take art in college?"

CAROL HOLIDAY - "I took a course studying traditional art tools and their history. It was a very mechanical course." Her eyes hit the middle distance for a moment, a pensive thought there and gone. "As you know many degrees still require credits in language or art courses. I would recommend you seek a similar course once you graduate. Better something you can research and understand than time wasted chasing after nebulous criteria with paint or sculptor's tools."

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Failure] - What's wrong with getting your hands a little dirty?

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - 'You *will* seek a similar course,' she means.

SHIVERS [Challenging: Success] - In a hospital bed, a ruddy-furred man coughs and hacks. The phlegm staring back at him from his tissue is thick and viscous. It's a good sign. But it is still a symptom, and the pain is still heavy. Every short-fall of a full breath is defeating. His eyes slide away as he contemplates sleep only to land on the simple sculpture of an Angel resting beside the sink. He thinks of his daughters and the promise of tomorrow he's made to them many times over. The man closes his eyes and rests, saving his energy for the tomorrow of today, and every tomorrow he can afford.

COMPOSURE - *Focus*. Don't let the dreamers take you elsewhere. Your mother is waiting.

1. But that was…?
2. [Let it go.]

YOU - [Let it go.]

1. "You owe someone a favor?"
2. "Did you take art in college?"
3. "Did you ever make something with dad?"
4. [Drama - Challenging 12] Imply you saw what it was.
5. "Is it anything I can help with?"
6. [Back out now.]

YOU - "Did you ever make something with dad?"

CAROL HOLIDAY - There's a quiet moment of surprise. For some reason she wasn't expecting a question like that. "You, I suppose," she says seriously.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Eugh.

VOLITION - How unlike you.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Oh, get off my back! It's different when it's your *mother*.

DRAMA [Challenging: Success] - She's dodging the real question. Your father has always hinted at the sordid affairs of their shared past. Perhaps they left graffiti somewhere? Carved their initials in the bleeding bark of a tree? Scrawled something illicit in a note passed back and forth?

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - Many things can be 'made'. Mistakes, for example.

EMPATHY - All that aside, another example couldn't hurt.

1. "Anything else?"
2. [Let it go.]

YOU - "Anything else?"

CAROL HOLIDAY - She takes a brief moment to think. "When you were much younger, your father and I cooperated with the Dreemurrs to create a scrapbook of your time together. You, Kris, Asriel, and December. We have our own copy of the photos, but the scrapbook must still be somewhere in Toriel's home. It was largely her own initiative."

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Easy: Success] - She doesn't smile, but the coal of her eyes softens.

CAROL HOLIDAY - "You recall how young Asriel was with his photographs. Disposable camera upon camera, film wasted on everything from bugs to the same riverbed across the seasons." The woman exhales through her nose. "It took some time to sort through everything," she hangs a hand over the table, indicating height. "Asgore brought the entire collection over in a milk carton yay big."

CAROL HOLIDAY - "But if young Asriel hadn't been so obsessed with capturing the moment… well, I suppose we'd have less evidence."

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - Age shows in her expression, the hanging laugh lines and dark circles covered by concealer working in tandem. Your mother's fur has become paler over the years, her hair a touch thinner. The greys are noticeable now. Though there's an obvious point where the wear became clear to you, it's hard to say how much of it was happening every day without your knowing.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - When you decided to be a girl, you told her that you'd grow up to look just like her. For all the complications of your relationship, you still think she looks beautiful.

CAROL HOLIDAY - "You should see if Miss Toriel will let you look through it." She places one hand atop the other. "Tonight would work well. It *is* the end of your school week, after all."

SUGGESTION - Why not find the photos in your own home? Surely that would be much easier.

DRAMA [Challenging: Success] - Let's cut through to the heart of it. This is another attempt at getting you and the knight of another land in cahoots again.

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - She doesn't care for any of your other friends the way she cared for Kris. You've rarely taken Berdly to your house for this reason, and though Catti's family is excessive in. Many ways. You've spent the night at her home plenty. It's easier that way.

CAROL HOLIDAY - "…I wonder if he still takes them. I suppose I'll have a chance to ask directly next week."

New Task: View scrapbook at the Dreemurrs' (optional)

New Task: Find photo-book at home (optional)

HALF LIGHT - Whatever you do, *don't* enter that home. It's not a place for you anymore. To walk willingly into the stranger's territory is to invite ruin upon yourself.

ESPRIT DE CORPS - Toriel would welcome you any day. She's said as much at church on occasion; patient reminders as much as they are often careless remarks. There would be a place for you at any table here in Hometown.

HALF LIGHT - It's not *her* that would hurt you.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Legendary: Success] - A bridge sways in the wind over open air. Its ropes are loose, the boards caved in enough to require careful footing. But it still holds. At times, you even see the other one that uses it tightening a post. It could hardly be called maintenance, but the bridge hasn't collapsed yet. That has to mean something, doesn't it?

1. "You owe someone a favor?"
2. "Did you take art in college?"
3. "Did you ever make something with dad?"
4. [Drama - Challenging 12] Imply you saw what it was.
5. "Is it anything I can help with?"
6. [Back out now.]

YOU - "You owe someone a favor?"

PAIN THRESHOLD - Immediately you know this was a bad idea.

CAROL HOLIDAY - Her dark eyes lose their passivity and turn on you. "You're making the assumption that I owe any favors at all. You know what assumptions do, don't you, young lady?"

SUGGESTION [Formidable: Success] - This is a well tread technique of your mother's. It also tells you that this conversation has potential to hit territory she doesn't care for.

RHETORIC [Challenging: Success] - She wants control of the conversation. Use a soft touch, but don't forget what you want here.

CAROL HOLIDAY - "Well?"

1. [Resigned] "They make a fool out of you and me."
2. "I'm sorry. I was just wondering what you were up to."
3. [Say nothing.]

YOU - [Resigned] "They make a fool out of you and me."

CAROL HOLIDAY - "Good. Holidays don't *owe* favors, we lend them. We have plenty of gifts to give, don't you think?"

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Failure] - What does *that* mean?

AUTHORITY [Impossible: Failure] - Your mother has come collecting, then. But to whom? The curiosity that rules you is powerful but you can't muster the sound.

COMPOSURE [Formidable: Success] - Chin up. Don't look anywhere else. She knows that you are strong, even when you don't.

1. "You owe someone a favor?"
2. "Did you take art in college?"
3. "Did you ever make something with dad?"
4. [Drama - Challenging 12] Imply you saw what it was.
5. "Is it anything I can help with?"
6. [Back out now.]

YOU - "You o—"

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - Hold on. You've already asked that question. What are you hoping to gain from asking it again?

INTERFACING [Negligible: Success] - You, uh, *can* tell which ones you have and haven't asked, right? The readout doesn't show any errors on my end, but…

SAVOIR FAIRE [Easy: Success] - Crown Boy might get to it eventually, but if you're putting down something we're not picking up, chances are you already tried your best. Sucks, and looking like a fool is never a good look, but it might be the only look you can own.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - There's a terrible tension in your throat, words poised to escape. You swallow them down, barely. Your hands twitch.

CAROL HOLIDAY - Her eyes are calculating, observant. "Finish your sentence, Noelle."

1. "You owe someone a favor?"
2. "Did you take art in college?"
3. "Did you ever make something with dad?"
4. [Drama - Challenging 12] Imply you saw what it was.
5. "Is it anything I can help with?"
6. [Back out now.]

YOU - "Is it anything I can help with?"

CAROL HOLIDAY - "No. You cannot."

AUTHORITY - The reply is firm. Crisp. It could be harsher, but it isn't.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - The same way she straightens in your presence, she must assert herself here. She has to be strong.

EMPATHY [Godly: Success] - She has to *appear* strong.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - Alright. We've got a lot of angles to attack this from and a lot we picked up getting here. If any of these are going to work, it has to be the one we can apply the most leverage from.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - She's a woman above flattery, but is she above ego? Methinks not. Punch up your tone, Princess, and we'll have this in the bag!

1. [Empathy - Heroic 15] "You've been working so hard. Even if it's just passing a note along I could do *something* for you, right?" [Push it.]
2. [Composure - Formidable 13] "I'm trying to be like you, Mom. Can't I learn a little more about what that means?" [Push it.]
3. [Drama - Challenging 12] "Mom, there isn't even anything dangerous out here. Even if it's 'boring', can't I help?" [Push it.]
4. "Okay." [Let it go.]

YOU - "I'm trying to be like you, Mom. Can't I learn a little more about what that means?"

+2 You want to know her

+2 LOVE

+1 Shared a memory

+1 Investigated thoroughly

-1 Made a fool

-2 Unfinished sentence

CHECK SUCCESS

COMPOSURE [Formidable: Success] - You don't react. 'No' alone is not forever, it's only temporary. Your eyes are steady, hands clasped in one another to cover the twitch from earlier. You are the picture of attentive, directing a level of interest and spirit that is impossible to ignore entirely.

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - You stutter and fluster yourself often, but this woman was instrumental in teaching you that you're someone to be proud of. There's a level of constrictive shame that you struggle to swallow, a level of control you wish you knew how to escape without feeling *terrible*. You think, unbidden, of your older sister and the horrible fights she had with your mother, disappearing for days at a time.

EMPATHY - You think about every kind of retaliation and retribution and spiteful moment you've been helpless in, both as receiver and witness. But you also remember the tears shed.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - You have crossed the days off every calendar you have ever owned.

HALF LIGHT [Easy: Success] - Felt the pages grow heavy at the top before pinning them back but thinner underneath. Until there are no more days left to count.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - You've been losing some part of the whole picture every day. You know what you want, but not how to get it. Not how to move forward. Your mother would know, wouldn't she?

COMPOSURE [Trivial: Success] - If nothing else, she'd make a convincing show of it.

CAROL HOLIDAY - The woman frowns. She stands and pulls out a pocket journal and pen from her breast pocket, scratching something down into a page before cleanly ripping it out.

REACTION SPEED [Trivial: Success] - The small journal's magnetic clasp is in the shape of a wreath.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Trivial: Success] - It's… kind of cute.

AUTHORITY - *Focus*, you distractible miscreants.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - I can't help what we notice— it's merry and charming! Bite me!

CAROL HOLIDAY - "During the festival, Asgore will play a role as additional security. *This* is his schedule. Once you've finished your school work for the day, I want you to drop this off in his flower shop. The front door is always unlocked. If he isn't there, leave it on his front counter. Do *not* let him talk to you about his job and do *not* stay out later than you have to."

INLAND EMPIRE [Legendary: Success] - The murk and mire parts at last to reveal a single silver thread. It stands out amidst strings threatening to choke and trip, and razor wire which hates to be pulled and can't trust another with its condition. This is your way in.

CAROL HOLIDAY - "I don't want you out in the dark. It's not safe. Understand?"

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Easy: Success] - She holds the note out for you to take, but doesn't let go right away. You could easily take it from underneath her thumb and even avoid ripping it, but…

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - She wants you to know that this window into her professional life is purely conditional.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - You're about to accept a contract; a signature sealed by words and memory and nothing else.

1. "I understand."
2. "But, what's the deal with that?" [Gesture at the folded paper on the table]
3. "I don't understand," [Ask a follow-up question]
4. [Back out now.]

YOU - "I understand."

CAROL HOLIDAY - She releases her hold. The woman maintains eye contact while tucking everything away, including the folded paper still on the table. "I'll be leaving for work now. I expect you to make progress on your project in the library as well. Don't let that *boy* take up too much of your time."

Item gained: Asgore's Schedule

New task: Deliver Asgore's schedule

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - She stops in the open doorway leading out to the living room, palm coming to rest over one side of the frame.

INTERFACING [Medium: Success] - It comes close to, but does not *touch* the old names and lines in colored marker climbing up its wooden spine, denoting heights.

CAROL HOLIDAY - "Thank you, Noelle."

COMPOSURE [Easy: Success] - Her steps, quiet against the carpet, fade away. You wait until the front door clicks shut in silence to breathe. Your back remains straight, however.

SUGGESTION [Medium: Failure] - 'Thank you'? That's *it*?

EMPATHY [Trivial: Success] - It's what you're used to. At least from moments like these.

DRAMA [Trivial: Success] - Your Highness, while we may not have uncovered the full scope of your matriarch's activities, we *have* wormed our way within them. This was undoubtedly a successful venture.

HEALED MORALE +1

PAIN THRESHOLD [Medium: Success] - But what about what went *wrong*?

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Failure] - Huh?

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Challenging: Failure] - Wait a second—

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - You couldn't hedge her into any particular topic. Your conversational skills fell short once again.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - In retrospect, even something as simple as walking into the room using a different trajectory would have made it easier to make out what was on that paper.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - Not that it would have helped for sure. After all, you focused on the wrong thing first anyway.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - You abandoned your own voice. A more confident woman wouldn't have had the same issues you did. You can think of one right now.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - Realistically, you haven't learned any more than your mother was willing to disclose to begin with. She evaded directly answering most of your questions if she ever answered them at all.

DAMAGED MORALE -2

COMPOSURE [Formidable: Success] - Mistakes wash over you like water circling the drain, shortcoming after shortcoming arriving with the same assuredness as your winter coat. It stings, but you're better for—

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Legendary: Success] - But *nothing*! Oy, killjoy!

VOLITION - I am *not* a killjoy.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - But you come when called. Oh— forget the petty bullshit for a minute. We're burning through fresh serotonin like it doesn't have a place to go! Help me out, I've got my hands full!

VOLITION - … Alright.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - Noelle, I need you to listen.

1. …
2. [Ignore him.]

YOU - [Ignore him.]

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - You contemplate how best to get through the day. There's only so much time before school, after all.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - Breathe again. There's merit to comparing yourself against your goals and merit to comparing what happened against what you might have wanted. But there's only so much we can control, and none of it requires you to degrade or deface yourself.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - You can't teach anyone about the person you are. They'll meet the person you want them to. Study this moment and what it made you feel, then keep it so you can be ready for next time.

VOLITION - … Breathe again. Good.

1. …
2. [They don't even belong here.]

YOU - [They don't even belong here.]

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - All tools define their meaning in the hands of their wielders; it is how you stand and what you project that matters. These memories are an umbrella amidst the freezing rain. You're safer using them than you are ignoring them.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - It's not about *ignoring* your thoughts or feelings. There's no stopping something intrusive. If nothing else, you can find a center between the imagined harshness with the reality of your accomplishments. There's kinder ways to greet any moment.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Challenging: Success] - When you imagine choking out your friends, a thrill rushes down your spine. When you watch horror and see a helpless lady fail to escape some killer, you feel schadenfreude and more. That's not evil. You're not vile.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - You don't crack. You study and imitate. You are a mould poured to meet the needs of the moment. What everyone else sees is what's real, nothing else.

SHIVERS [Impossible: Success] - Every promise made and kept by anyone who has ever mattered to you banks and bends around the impact of LOVE. It is LOVE that carves a story into the fabric of your world.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - Your thoughts aren't you. But they *are* real. There's no denying that.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - Real enough to shape what you are in the dark. Real enough to follow you out into the light.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Failure] - Maybe you just need something to distract yourself.

1. …
2. [Composure - Challenging 12] Pull yourself out.
3. [Volition - Challenging 12] Pull yourself together.

YOU - Pull yourself together.

+3 LOVE

+2 A successful venture

+1 You know the way out

+1 'Thank you'

-1 You don't crack

-2 Unfinished sentence

CHECK SUCCESS

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - The scraping urge to hurt yourself - mentally, emotionally - yields. It takes longer but you find that center between the imagined harshness of your early day with the reality of your accomplishments. You sag and brace yourself against a nearby chair.

INTERFACING [Medium: Success] - The schedule is still in your hand, crumpled inwards but not mangled or destroyed. All you've done is tighten your fist without realizing. And now -

New task: Find out if your mother's hiding something

INTERFACING - Boom. Plenty of room to work with.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - The things you learn from this note and the flower-man will come from *you*. What does it matter if your mother won't give it to you straight? This is a puzzle in the making.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] - The part of you that craves knowledge resurfaces, relishing the idea of pressing boundaries and seeing what happens. If a door's locked, there must be a reason. This isn't a game, but doesn't that just make it more exciting?

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - Your mother only wants you back before dark. It may be getting darker sooner every day, but that doesn't mean you couldn't sneak out afterward if you wanted to. It's been more than a week since she did more than make sure you'd come home safe.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Medium: Success] - Retired officer or not, it's unusual for there to be additional security during the festival. Hometown already has its own police force, and civilians can more or less be trusted to man their own attractions and games. An investigation may be warranted after all.

DRAMA [Easy: Success] - There's also—

REACTION SPEED [Challenging: Success] - WAIT.

DRAMA - *gasp* Rudeness!

REACTION SPEED - Can it. We've been standing in place for *way* too long. We'll have time to figure all of this out later, now go go go, get ready already!

DRAMA - (grumble, grumble) Interrupt *me*, will you? (grumble, grumble)

1. Get ready. [And leave home.]
2. Wait, but what about-? [Put it off.]

YOU - Get ready.

EMPATHY - You woke with your alarm two hours before school is set to start as usual. The sun's rays embolden themselves as they stretch deeper into your home through every open blind and curtain. Despite the morning's events, checking your watch lets you sortie time in favor of taking a warm shower while preparing a simpler outfit than usual. The shower was definitely the right choice.

HEALED MORALE +1

SAVOIR FAIRE - The outfit in question is a powder blue sweater with a large candy cane at its center; it hangs loose over the shoulders, the black straps of your bra visible over your collarbone. Your winter coat is coming in well, puffy fur making your neck and collar richer and fluffier. The skirt is a little longer than your usual fare, a downward spiral of red on white that complements the sweater.

EMPATHY [Trivial: Success] - Anyone would be lucky to have what you can give. You're growing into the woman you wanted to be.

VOLITION [Trivial: Success] - Physically *and* emotionally. No matter how long the road makes itself.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Negligible: Success] - Susie looks at you a little more when your neck's on display. You can't help imagining what it might lead to.

HALF LIGHT [Easy: Success] - She could bite clean through the vertebrae of your neck if you ever gave her the chance, do NOT put yourself in that position.

1. Oh my gosh, that'd be awful!
2. Oh my gosh, you really think so?
3. [Let it go.]

YOU - Oh my *gosh*, you really think so?

HEALED MORALE +1

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Haha, yes! That's what it's all about, doe! Chase it down!

HALF LIGHT - N-no! Life is a contest of survival, you're— You can't just— You're *loaded* with fear responses, there's already so many threats you *don't* know about, why—

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - You twirl a coil of your hair in one hand, the other grazing your throat while you picture it. Sickening detail floods your mind, deeply embarrassed, but you don't linger in it for too long.

1. Oh cheezus, you all know everything I'm thinking about…

YOU - Oh cheezus, you all know everything I'm thinking about…

PAIN THRESHOLD - We're not judging, though.

HALF LIGHT - I am!

AUTHORITY - I am. Only a little, though.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - You could look cool bleeding out. Very *disco* way to go.

INTERFACING [Trivial: Success] - It's not really my place to judge. All this has given me time to put this together, though.

New task: What's the deal with these voices?

INTERFACING - I'll keep my mouth shut a little longer, but, I've been paying attention.

1. …

YOU - …

DRAMA [Godly: Failure] - What's that? Did we miss something?

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - Don't worry about it. It will come up soon.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Easy: Success] - You craft and slice into triangles a veggie sandwich - without a katana - chomping through a protein bar in place of your usual breakfast at the same time.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - Save yourself some prep time later; making a second sandwich now will give you easy access to calories and energy if you decide to investigate after finishing work on your project.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] - Load up on extra sugars and grab as many gingerbread cookies as you can. Nothing feels jollier than brown sugar, a little bit of the Maillard reaction, and sweet, sweet marbled frosting.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - An excess will spoil your appetite. You really only need two at most.

INLAND EMPIRE [Legendary: Success] - In a sprawling vista of lights and sounds, a darkened alleyway welcomes in some unexpected reprieves. You'll feed just enough mouths with four.

1. Do you always talk like that?

YOU - Do you always talk like that?

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Trivial: Success] - Yes. He does.

INLAND EMPIRE - If the dreamer didn't dream, what would he be?

1. Awake?
2. Asleep but like, *really* asleep? Like, if you're dreaming you kinda have to still be asleep but you can sleep without dreaming. It's a squares and rectangles situation. Or, oh, I guess you don't have to be asleep to dream because we can daydream. So… asleep.
3. God I wish I thought less.

YOU - Awake?

INLAND EMPIRE - Almost. He would be a wake.

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - I'm not sure what kind of joke that's supposed to be, but you *do* still have to decide about the cookies. Again, time is still passing here.

1. Take two cookies.
2. Take four cookies.
3. Take as many as you can fit in your lunchbox.
4. Take no cookies. Be miserable on purpose.

YOU - Take four cookies.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Ah. Well. At least four's better than just two. You can still shake a present or something when you get home.

Item gained: Homemade Gingerbread Monsters (x4)

Task updated: Get jolly

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - This time, you remember to grab your house keys from the hooks where your family usually hangs them. You've forgotten to do so many, many times, much to your mother's irritation.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Medium: Success] - As low as the crime rate may be in Hometown, you've only complained once about her refusal to hide a spare key somewhere outside the tall gates. The conversation that followed was brief, but left its mark on you.

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - It would hurt to lose anything else from this home.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - The weather outside is *bracing* and perfect for a run. Pull the straps of your backpack tight, kid, let's show the world what you're made of!

VISUAL CALCULUS [Medium: Success] - The path to and from school winds through most of Hometown. If you walked there now, you definitely wouldn't make it in time.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - Hear that? Like you even needed the excuse. DROP INTO THAT STANCE, PRINCESS! Let's do this.

1. Walk to school, brusquely.
2. [Endurance - Medium 10] Jog to school.
3. [Physical Instrument - Challenging 12] Run to school, full tilt.

YOU - Run to school, full tilt.

+1 The weather's perfect

+5 You *want it*

CRITICAL SUCCESS

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Challenging: Success] - ATTAGIRL, GET AT IT!! Run tall, keep your lungs free! Eyes on the horizon— soon enough it's going to have to chase *you*!

PERCEPTION [Medium: Success] - It really is a perfect day for a run. Your hooves crush stray leaves without remorse, keeping at a light jog while opening the casing to the button that opens the gate from your own side. The trees have gone through their metamorphosis in full, but few of them are barren. Catti's family, lingering outside, hoot and holler cheers for you.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - Oxygen burns its paths through your blood, the reverberation of each pounding step chasing up your entire body.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - For just a few minutes, nothing else matters.

HEALED MORALE +1

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Challenging: Success] - Alright alright, remember to slow down as you finish aaaand— yes, just like that! Oh, it's beautiful. Your coach is so proud of you.

RHETORIC [Medium: Failure] - Coach Undyne? Probably. She's proud of everything you do.

DRAMA [Easy: Success] - Bestill my bleeding heart. Are you… crying?

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - *Sniff* I-I think I am. It's just been a long time since we could do this, hasn't it?

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Trivial: Success] - The school's cross country club meets twice a week. It can't have been *that* long.

ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - The big man's hard-earned tears aside, you've made it to the finish line with a couple minutes to spare. Time to cross it.

1. Start the day.

YOU - Start the day.