Work Text:
* You open your eyes. It’s dark.
* You turn to your side, catching a glimpse of the window. It’s a moonlit night.
* You flop back on your bed. You look at the ceiling. You close your eyes.
* It feels like hours pass.
* You open your eyes. It’s unfortunately still dark. You sit up on your bed, restless.
* You look over at your brother's bed. It’s barren.
* You ponder for a moment…
* You get up. You kneel down to the side of your brother's bed. You grab a container.
* You open the container. You see you and your brothers old game system.
* You look at the box. It says, “FUN MACHINE 64!!! WE’VE MADE 64 OF THESE?!?!?!?”
* You pull out the controller. It’s a weird controller with 4 grips, presumably for monsters with 4 hands. There is also a mouse for the system.
* At the bottom of the container are 6 Cartridges. The titles are “Super Smashing Fighters”, “Dragon Blazers 64”, “Cat Petterz 64”, “MotherBound”, “Time Gun”, and lastly, a game titled “Cat Petterz Paint!”
* You look at the cartridge, feeling the cold, rounded corners between your fingers. You can’t help thinking back on when you played this all the time. It was one of the only edutainment games that was actually any fun at all. You and your brother would sit in front of the TV and draw whatever you felt like for hours and hours. This was one of your favorite games to play with your friends as well.
* You pause…
* After a moment, you get up. You grab the console, the game, the cords, and you grab the mouse.
* As quiet as you can possibly be, you shuffle to the living room.
* Clumsily, you plug in all the cords into the TV, hoping you plugged them in correctly in the dark.
* Before turning on the TV, you turn the volume knob until just above zero.
* You plug in the mouse. You turn the TV on. You insert the cartridge. You press the ON button on the console.
* The TV blinds you with a white, phosphor glow.
* The title screen greets you, as it always has and always will.
* The music starts playing. You still remember every note.
* The title screen is a plain, white screen, with the words “Cat Petterz Paint!” displayed in bold black letters.
* You click the first letter, C. It turns into a cat that dances. You relax your shoulders.
* You start the game and are met with a blank canvas.
* You move the mouse over to the SAVE CAT to see the images that are saved on the cartridge.
* You see there are 16/16 Images saved. You hold your breath for a moment. You decide to browse them.
* The first image is a crudely drawn likeness of you and your brother.
* The next image is your brother as the “Hyper Death Demon” with giant rainbow wings. You snicker slightly to yourself.
* Then, an image of you with blue armour and blue skin. You feel a sense of pride.
* Next, an image of your father, shirtless on the couch, a pie in hand and fast asleep. You chuckle.
* Now, an incredibly terribly drawn picture of you blowing up your school with a bazooka. Your mother is in the background, crying out, “We have to cancel school forever”. You are drawn with an evil grin. This might be your greatest creation ever.
* An image of your brother doing community service. You and Asriel’s friend doodled over it, calling him lame.
* An impressive image of your brother's friend dual-wielding a baseball bat and a black sword. She is also wearing black armour. Your throat tightens.
* Image of your old friend, Noelle, petting a black cat during a sunny day. You smile.
* Another impressive drawing of Noelle. She’s on your brother’s shoulders, and you are on your brother’s friend’s shoulders. You stare at this image for awhile, lost in thought.
* A crude image of you using Noelle’s antlers as monkey bars. Noelle is crying in the image. You feel a strange sense of nostalgia.
* An image of your brother sitting in a chair. He has a huge, wrinkly brain and many awards. The awards read, “Turbo Nerd Award”, “1st Place in Dweeb Olympics", and “Undefeated in Not Detecting Sarcasm”. You remember having fun making this with your brother's friend.
* An image of your brother attending college. You skip this one quickly.
* Image of a red forest with a strange, long, black… smudge? Off to the side of the image. You don’t remember drawing this... You go on.
* A black screen. You see a pair of eyes in the center. One is pink, and one is yellow. This gives you pause. You don’t know what this is. You don’t remember drawing this. You don’t remember seeing someone else draw this. What is this? All you can do is…
* Stare.
*
*
*
* After what feels like hours, you are finally able to collect yourself and move on.
* The next image is blank. You look at the pure white screen.
* You think for a moment. The white screen gives you a moment of clear thought. You think about drawing something. What do you want to draw? Something from the past? No. No, enough of the past.
* Something in the future? You don’t feel like thinking of the future. You don’t see anything there.
* Something in the present?... No. You don’t feel anything here, either.
*
*
*
* You grab the mouse and click to see the last image.
* It’s a collaborative piece made by you, Asriel, Noelle, and your brother’s frie— …Dess.
* And Dess.
* You are a noble knight in blue armour. Asriel is an angel with rainbow wings. Noelle is a white mage, wearing white robes. Dess is a mercenary in black armour. You are all roaming a field of golden flowers. You all look happy.
* You look at this one for a long time. You relax the more you look at it. It’s a wonderful image. A wonderfully happy Image. For just the smallest of moments, you find yourself lost in a truly wonderful piece of art.
* ”Kris!?”
* You violently jump, knowing exactly what happened.
*You look straight down, shoulders hunched in embarrassment.
* Toriel: ”Kris, honey… What are you doing up so late?! It’s a School Night. Please get back to bed…”
* Toriel looks at the screen.
* Toriel gives a tired and somber sigh.
* Toriel: “Kris, my child, please get to bed. You really need to sleep… You can put away the games tomorrow.. okay?”
* You stand up, and you shut off the game system.
* You start to head back to your room.
* Toriel: “Kris.”
* Your mother grabs your shoulder.
* Your mother embraces you.
* Your mother strokes your hair.
* Toriel: “I love you so much, Kris…”
* Toriel’s hug is soft and warm.
* You also embrace your mother.
* You both stand there, hugging each other.
*
* You have to go back to sleep soon.
* You and Toriel both head to your separate rooms.
* You collapse onto your bed
* You glare at the ceiling.
* Time feels still, The air is still. You’re still.
* You finally drift to sleep.