#im dealing with some new and sort of unsettling headaches so i may not be on and writing the next few days

[myriadxofxmuses]

I don't usually do this, but I had a couple decent pictures recently and figured what the hell, it's Munday.

Happy Munday!

[shapeshifting-arch-mage]

9/26/2018, Part 1

Last night we had taken the boat back here, weakly hobbled back to our room and climbed into bed. Our head was terribly sore from being slammed into the resort building by the explosion that Dust Sans made at the beach. Returning to our room, only to be greeted by the sight of "ばくばくばくばくばくばくばくばくばく" written on our walls from weeks ago, did not help matters. We did our best to disregard the colorful wall writings and go to sleep.

We dreamed about a man wearing a shirt I didn't like. I couldn't help but wince in revulsion at the sight of it. We wake up, feeling more rested than we did for the past two days, but our head still feels a bit tender from yesterday. We don't really want to stay in our room today, though, so we get out of bed and go out the door.

We ride a boat to Port Town since the Island's not open, and step off.

"so wat u wana do today, hooman Cookie?"

"i dunno, just get some fresh air, i guess."

Hopefully Sans hasn't chased us all the way here. The exploding Sans, that is. We don't need another skull explosion knocking us off our feet and into a building. Our head's still a tiny bit sore from yesterday.

We start to make our way down the boardwalk... but as soon as I see who's there, I turn us around and walk us right back the way we came, in the direction of the harbor. Nope, we are not ready to deal with him again just yet. Sorry, Temmie, but Baku's going to have to wait.

"Temmie, my head- uh, our head still isn't feeling 100% better after we hit it yesterday. I don't want to deal with Baku giving me another headache right now."

"wat u mean??"

"i mean i dont wanna talk to him rite now."

"wy not???"

"yu kno he makes me feel weird, right?"

"ya, but wy??"

"remember a cuple days ago, wen we found out he new my name?"

"o ya... dat was weird. u got realy scared wen he did that! wat was dat all about?"

"cuz he likes freakin me out. an i dont really feel like bein freaked out rite now."

"aw, ok, hoomin..."

We would like to explore Port Town, but I don't want to risk attracting Baku's attention by passing through the boardwalk. So for now, Temmie and I sit on a bench and watch the boats.

[Johan] In the distance a boat is inbound, distant but coming in fast. The distant whirring sound becoming louder and louder before slowing down. By the time it’s close enough to the dock for the driver to start trying to park it, one of the passengers becomes painfully obvious. A skeleton with a bright shirt and sunglasses. He seems to be carrying a jacket that also seems bright in color, possibly more-so than the shirt itself. When the boat parks he thanks the driver and hops off, looking around for a map or something.

[Rave Witch Temmie] Wait a minute- is that another Fresh-possessed?!

Temmie notices my concern and thinks, "watsa matter, hooman??"

"Well, uh... it's just that... that skeleton that just got off the boat kind of reminds me of... y'know..."

But before I can object, she waves to him and calls out, "h0I! im Temmie!1!"

[Johan] The skeleton flinches a bit before looking in their direction before looking behind him. Who are they talking to? He nervously goes back to what he’s doing, trying to find a map and trying to be invisible. Dang these clothes. He eventually realizes there’s a map near where the others are but... something about them... actually no it’s just that he doesn’t want to be noticed, along with the tem being really social with that call out. He hesitates to walk towards them and eventually just stands there awkwardly, trying to find another way.

[Rave Witch Temmie] "wats ur name?? imma Temmie!1! and i gota human SOUL!!1 im da strongest tem!! wat about yu??"

[Johan] Johan watches the tem for a moment before looking around again. It really is talking to him isn’t it? Johan can’t help but sigh to himself as he decides to just walk past, pretending he didn’t notice as he goes to read the map. He really needs to find new clothes.

[Rave Witch Temmie] "u like pretty colors to?? i like pretty colors!1! u like my hat? i got it from da hoomans SOUL!1!"

[Johan] For the most part, Johan continues to ignore them, believing that maybe they were just rambling nonsense. He leans towards the map before him, trying to find some sort of clothes store, muttering under his breath as if to remind himself what he’s trying to find. The moment the other mentions a human soul he stops. His expression becomes one of concern as he looks over. “...what?? Wait wait... what???” He soon becomes extremely shocked and confused seeming, as there are many things about that statement that’s really worrying to him. He goes to put his jacket back on, the fluff on the hood and various other collar-like parts becoming obvious. That jacket, despite the colors, may seem familiar to those familiar with a certain blaster taming universe. He probably just wants to hide his face at this point. The tem is scaring the poor kid.

[Rave Witch Temmie] "watsa matter? u dont like my hat? its so pretty!! i got it cuz of hooman!1 my hoomans a witch!!1 i gota nice hat and a magic wand!! i can use hoomins magic and tems magic1!! its da best!1! also human helps me talk bettr!1! rite, hooman??"

We glance to the side for a moment.

"...yea, i do. cuz we use first person pronouns."

We look back at Johan. "yayaya!1 i talk in first persons!1! isnt dat cool??!"

[Johan] Johan can’t help but shiver. Something about this interaction was... unsettling. He begins to walk off despite not finding directions yet, and seems to smack something against the map. When he lets go what’s left is a weird peep-like creature. It’s neon blue and appears to be a bit dazed from the sudden smack. It shakes it off before going to read the map now that Johan has walked off.

[Rave Witch Temmie] "ooo!! who are yu???"

[Johan’s parasite] The parasite looks up at the tem and tilts its head to see better before looking around. Johan is gone and getting lost, leaving the parasite here with the tem. It seems to think for a moment before letting out a really quiet squeak and continuing its mapping. He slowly slinks around on the map as to continue its search. A clothes store, right?

[Rave Witch Temmie] We get up from the bench and walk over to the map to get a closer look at it. That thing... oh no, it isn't what I think it is, is it? Temmie, we probably shouldn't- too late, we're already standing right in front of the blue thing, and staring at it.

[Johan’s parasite] The tiny peep with its beady black eyes continues scanning the map, not noticing the tem before realizing it suddenly got really dark. It turns around only to be startled, resulting in the stickiness wearing off momentarily and the parasite falling off. It wiggles for a moment before getting its grip on the world again, soon trying to find a way back up. Parasite does its job when it has a job to do. Mostly just retrieve something. This time it’s information and direction. Maybe it could get a bit of magic in the meantime? Probably not though.

[Rave Witch Temmie] "aww, its so cute!1" We reach out a paw to touch it...

"Temmie, i dont think we should touch dat..."

"but its so cute!1!!"

poke

[Johan’s parasite] The parasite doesn’t react to the poke, mostly just confusion as it looks up to the tem, beady black eyes pleading “why” to the other. With that poke alone they may be able to tell it’s very squishy. It continues trying to climb up, soon to find the map again. Pathfinding! Yay!

[Rave Witch Temmie] "hey, dont run away!1! i think yer cute!1!!"

"Temmie, it doesnt like us touchin it!1! lets just-"

We clasp the squishy blue parasite between our paws and try to pull it off the map. Temmie, I'm telling you, this is a very bad idea...

[Johan’s parasite] The parasite seems really confused as it starts to look around. It soon becomes obvious it’s scared as it begins to wiggle, trying to get upright again. It tries to look at the map from their new viewpoint but now all of the words are tiny. It freaks out more and soon tries to be free from their grasp, attempting to scurry up their arm if possible.

[Rave Witch Temmie] "ooo, its so wiggly!1!"

"eeeeuuuuugh, Temmie, it doesnt like- ACK!!"

The squirmy little thing just slithered out of our paws and onto our left arm!

"g-get it off, get it off!!"

As I am fairly certain I know exactly what this thing is (though, notably, I've never seen one that had eyes on the outside of its body before), I have no desire to let it cling onto us, lest it try to worm its way inside us...

I frantically shake our left arm up and down, trying to fling it off. If that doesn't work, I'm going to have to pull it off.

[Johan’s parasite] To their advantage, the parasite uses the shaking to give it a boost. It jumps off right when there’s the most momentum in the arm to fling it back into the map. It lands with a smack before going to find its place again. It crawls back to the “you are here” mark and begins inching around from there. Back to business!

[Rave Witch Temmie] Oh, thank god, we got it off. That was way too close. I can't risk letting one of those get inside us.

...Then again, if it really is a Fresh parasite, then even if it did manage to get inside us, it might not necessarily be able to take control of us, since we have two souls, one of which is far stronger than the other. It would have to subdue both of us in order to gain complete control over our body. Perhaps it may be able to overtake Temmie's soul, but if it did, that would only give it partial control- I'd still be able to resist it.

[Johan’s parasite] While the human is monologuing to itself the parasite continues trying to find the shop. It soon slinks over to the key to try and find some sort of indication or symbol of sorts. It finds something of the sort so it squished back up to the marker. It looks like it’s starting to get frustrated as it can’t find anything. It decides to figure out which way Johan went for now to have some sort of area to go off of. So for now it’s just looking around and trying to figure out how to read a map.

[Rave Witch Temmie] ...I don't want to stay here any longer while there's a Fresh parasite in the area. Yes, technically there was another Fresh parasite hanging around the boardwalk the last time we checked, but, y'know... this one's a free, hostless parasite. And I'd rather not stick around, just in case it decides that it would rather not pass up the opportunity to take us as a host.

...Not after what happened two years ago during the camping trip.

Not again... Not again...

We walk to the boardwalk.

[Johan’s parasite] After some time, now that there’s no distraction or anything, the parasite gives up. It looks like it has a headache. Soon it drops off the map and begins making its way to wherever Johan is. It takes some time but it will get there eventually.