#now I just go

[come-down-that-tree]

Prologue Previous

Warning: Geno being loopy for a while and discutable editing choices

Come Down That Tree! (An aftermare story)

Chapter 15: Audio, sed terra cur non plana est?

Geno wakes up not feeling quite all there.

His arm didn’t hurt anymore and he felt rested.

Something is amiss but who cares? Life is fun!

He felt very giddy for no apparent reason. The air seemed to vibrate.

He sits. Oh, he sits alright. With his butt on the ground. His back against the bark. His hands politely wait on his legs.

Geno felt like the universe rewrote itself slightly to the left just to mess with him.

Something makes a soft noise right to his left and he is suddenly very aware of a weight loafed against him.

It was Nightmare who was still asleep.

He shakes his arm to remove the weight.

The other started to stir awake, sleepiness still very present in his gaze.

Why does he wear so much purple? Like his eyes? He wears them prettily.

He moved around and watched Nightmare’s mouth articulate.

“Are you feeling okay? Your eyelight is big…?”

It is? He needs to see that.

Geno tried to reach his eye socket with his left arm but Nightmare stopped him for some reason.

“I know it doesn’t feel painful right now but it is still injured so try to avoid using it?”

Nightmare is too long of a name and Geno says so to him. He thinks.

“Oh your enunciation… It’s alright, the bigger side effects should fade out soon! It did for me…even if you don’t seem to react quite like me then… If Nightmare is too hard to say, you can shorten it to “Night” or anything that you prefer?”

He gazed into the two pale purple moons and attempted to test his balance by standing up straight. He failed.

The ground is green and he is floating above it.

He fell on the other.

“AH! Try to stay still for a moment, will you?”

Moonlight is so loud.

“I’ll try to be more quiet… If I dare to point that out, “Moonlight” is in no way shorter than “Nightmare”...”

The sound he makes is funny.

Geno flayed a bit to get back to sit against the tree without crushing anyone.

Moon is there but where is the other?

“Dream is down the village, you slept for a while.”

Mind Reading, what a powerful and useful magic…

He stared at him and the way his hands were freezed in the air, as if hesitant -he glanced at his face- and lost.

“You’re not aware you’re talking out loud, are you?”

Aware is certainly not the word here.

“We should get you out of these clothes… Dream went to seek some for you, it must be uncomfortable for you… wearing something that wet and heavy…?”

His sleeves make satisfying sounds when shaken.

The monster was drenched. Unlike Nightmare who seemed already dry and back in his usual purple trousers.

Geno knows a funny way to get dry much faster.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

With a firm but clumsy hand, he carries out his plan.

And soon, one giant animalistic skull was floating in front of both of them.

“GENO, please tell me you know what you’re doing with that terrifying thing!”

Feeling like some marbles were back into place, he answered the question truthfully.

“I don’t know what I am doing but I am doing it.”

Somehow, it did not seem to reassure the other who looked ready to leap at the first sign of something going wrong. The monster couldn’t care less at the moment and gestured for his blaster to open its maw…and charge a blast.

Somehow, once again, it seemed to inflict more stress on his companion. He then ignored all the pleading babbles that were just plain grating.

The inside of the blaster started lighting up with a fierce heat and he carefully sat between two sharp teeth.

“The’e, I will b’ dry inno time”, he announced to his gobsmacked-looking spectator.

Nightmare stayed where he was -even after he patted the space beside him in a silent offer- therefore he elected to ignore him, focusing on the almost scaling heat against his back. Why did he never do that before? It was quite a great way to accelerate things.

“Are you sure this is safe? Have you done that before?”

“I have never been lass sure of anything in me life but it seems to work a’right!”

The other scrunched his face in an expression Geno couldn’t decipher, not like he was that interested in trying but still.

After a moment of silence, the not-monster scooted slightly closer. He remained fairly far however.

“What is it?”

“mmmh m’blaster.”

“What? Can you repeat that?”

He giggled at the other’s ignorance.

“Big thing thaaat shoots and.. and bites!”

“Very helpful, thanks.”

He bowed, almost fell out of his seat, then miraculously balanced himself back up.

“M’pleasure to help, aways.”

“I thought you were starting to sound cognizant again but I see I was wrong there.”

“Always the bug words with you, eh”, he shrugged.

“Seriously, what is this thing? It was so impressive and -honestly- scary last time and now it just sits there, floating and warming your back without mauling you for sitting right next to its sharp and huge canine.”

Geno shook his head a few times to try once again to realign the realities. If the endeavor was any conclusive, he didn’t have a clue. He would have to continue riding the wave until it fully went away, he guessed.

“I use magic and fwoop big puppy here comes.”

He really couldn’t explain it any better.

“...Your magic seems far more powerful and advanced from anything I saw from monsters so far.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“What can you do besides turning into a nightlight at will?”

Nightmare grabbed his knees and started softly rocking back and forth.

“Not much… I can slightly worsen feelings on the bad side but I hate doing that. I’ve been told I turn the mood sour just by standing there so I might do it unconsciously sometimes.”

A frigid feeling finished chasing the daze away, leaving only a slight light-headedness and a dull pain in his left arm.

“Did the villagers tell you that?”

“Yes…”

“Then I wouldn’t trust that source.”

“Geno…They’re not all that bad.”

“Don’t give me that crap. It’s not about me there, they’re obviously mistreating you.”

The purple-clad skeleton hid his head in his knees and hummed, neither confirming or denying his accusation.

“Did you talk about that with Dream?”

Nightmare shook his head but stayed buried there.

“You don’t have to answer that but allow me to put an hypothesis out. The villagers don’t like you because they think your little guardianship here is neatly devised between “good and bad” and they’d be better off with only the positive and none of the negative emotions?”

A timid nod was all he got in exchange but it was enough for him to continue.

“1-I honestly don’t fully understand the whole tree and apples thing but aren’t you just a guardian and the sources of the feelings are the apples?

2-They’re plain stupid if they think they can live with only one side of their emotions. What are they, 5???”

To that, Nightmare lifted his head to look at him.

“Emotions are not a coin you can flip! They aren’t even always positive or negative? Some are neutral or mixed and why are they oversimplifying such a vague concept.”

“I don’t think I ever heard that way of thinking before.”

“You’re surrounded by idiots, no offense to Dream since I guess you didn’t broach the subject with him. Which is strange when you’re so fixated on “your duties as guardians of feelings”?”

“I’m starting to think I prefer you loopy.”

“How dare!??”

He let himself fall forwards, colliding with the other for the second time today but this time on his own volition. The blaster dissolved into the air as the air grew thick with shrieks and laughter as they play-fought on the ground. It ended very fast when something brushed weird against his arm and he all but hissed of pain.

“Oh no, did the pain come back? Are you feeling fine?”

The pain receded without fully vanishing so he answered it was alright enough.

They both laid down for a moment, looking at the clouds.

The faraway white puffs were a fascinating phenomenon to observe and he idly wondered if he would ever get used to it.

“I still think you should talk about it to your brother.”

“If I do that, he’s gonna want to help. We can’t just move the tree elsewhere if worse comes to worse. I don’t want them to hate him too.”

“You’re afraid he would get hurt for you? Or are you scared he wouldn’t do anything if he knew?”

“NO! I know he would- He’s the kindest person I’ve ever met. Of course, he would help or try to at least.”

“I see, you should still try to talk to him in my opinion.”

“...and what if you minded your own business?”

“Ha, I could.”

“Any particular reason you don’t?”

Geno sighed, a deep and heavy sigh that dragged for what seemed like an eternity.

“You somehow remind me of myself, just a bit, and a… situation… I went through. It’s a very, and I mean it, very different situation but I didn’t want to talk to my brother about it either. I did in the end, but let’s say it didn’t really stick, so just forget that.

Nightmare responded with a delay.

“You have a brother…”

“A little brother and despite everything, I’ll keep him close in my heart. Always...”

“Do you miss him?”

The answer was easy but somehow complicated.

“I do. Thankfully Papyrus does not.”

A long silence stretched after that.

A timid question stopped it just as steps approaching made their presence known.

“Would you mind talking to me about Papyrus more later?”

And strangely, Geno found he truly didn’t.

End of chapter 15! Go to chapter 16?

@dragon-tamer-1 @shinechermont

Geno!Sans belongs to @/loverofpiggies

Nightmare and dreamtale belong to @/jokublog

[perrieedwards]

i feel like people are skimming over the uk riots in a way that makes me want to tear my hair out. muslims in the uk are in active danger. immigrants in the uk are in active danger. refugees in the uk are in active danger. people of colour in the uk are in active danger. asian communities in the uk are in active danger. black communities in the uk are in active danger.

there are massive far right riots throughout the country right now and people like fucking elon musk and nigel farage are inciting it and still have a platform to speak. people have used three young girls deaths, people's genuine grief in southport, to try and gain traction for their own racist bullshit and it's working.

a lot of refugee charities have been forced to close leaving many people without support, homes, funding, food, etc. if you aren't able to donate please consider sending a message via the conversation over borders campaign! it will send a hopeful, welcoming letter to a refugee in the uk. there is also a guide to staying safe here.

please do your own research and donate to refugee charities, anti-islamophobia charities, mosques who are trying to rebuild after being destroyed, counter protesters, here are some i've heard positive things about but the list is extensive; southport strong together (support for the southport victims and their families), southport mosque rebuilding, riot repair fund, middlesbrough vulnerable residents, nasir mosque rebuilding, hull help for refugees, bristol welcomes migrants,

[churroach]

Full of Desires

[atalana]

the curse of adhd:

i will remember with absolute clarity, when the thought strikes me that i have a text to send someone, that this is the fourth time in three days i've attempted to send this specific text

i will forget, in the time it takes me to pick up my phone, that i picked it up intending to send a text

[frankierotwinkdeath]

Y’all want Taylor Swift to be gay so bad but you won’t even write femslash about her

[sabertoothwalrus]

dating meshi

[koroart]

I put way too much effort into this ( based on this meme, it wouldn’t leave me alone until it was drawn — I am freee )

[stil-lindigo]

lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)

if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.

--

no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.

I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.

I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.

If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.

[creekfiend]

what's my biggest pet peeve well it's when someone makes a text post on tumblr dot com in which they are trying to romanticize the notion of the livestock guardian dog but they don't know the distinction between a livestock guardian dog and a herding dog and also they've never met a livestock guardian dog and do not realize what their attitudes towards the sheep that they protect actually are

[mylittleredgirl]

that moment when you cross the point of no return with a character should be accompanied by a specific chime i think. like 🔔 congratulations! this one has been installed in the Permanent Collection and you will never stop thinking about them as long as you live

[lesbian-disaster-academic]

i used to be so good at writing strong, thoroughly-researched, thoroughly-edited essays.

as a kid in hs, my teacher literally came up to me, holding my 40 page essay on the intersection of the European witch hunts and capitalism/exploitation/gender roles (it was supposed to be 7 pages...whoops) and went like "this is literally a master's-degree level thesis. what are you doing?? you could literally use this as your final dissertation in a master's program, what the fuck."

NOW??? NOW?? you'd think I'd be oh so skilled. but alas. i can barely piece together two ideas. adhd skill-regression is so so real. im SOBBING

[seenthisepisode]

no offence but the reason tumblr is “dying” is, well, yes, of course the cursed like/reblog ratio and the change in user behaviour (because of people being used to how instagram and tiktok work) BUT also the lack of weekly shows. i say it with my whole chest, they don't produce captivating and engaging stupid weekly tv shows anymore because streaming killed that so you have spikes of activity here when Something happens in general fandom or up to three days after a new season of whatever drops and then it's a wasteland. this is obviously an old woman yelling at a cloud missing supernatural and the vampire diaries and pretty little liars and all these other shows type of post but honestly give me back weekly tv shows where i have something to watch for 40 minutes almost every day of the week after work so then i can read and reblog it on tumblr give it back for the sake of my sanity

[catmask]

actually, i guess nows as good a time as any. heres all my pokemon warmups from the past 9 days! i wonder how long i can keep going

[hinamie]

to moving forward

[pigswithwings]

above all else a trans woman is a person. above all else a trans women is a woman who goes to the same grocery store as you and buys fruits in the same grocery cart as you and goes home and eats her dinner the same as you. above all else a trans woman is a woman who dresses like you do and talks the same way you do. above all else a trans woman is a woman who wants to be cared about the same way you want to be cared about and a trans woman is a woman who makes friends the same way you make friends. above all else you should care about trans women because they are people. treat her as such.

[christadeguchi]

"we know how to move our bodies, but i didn't know how to manage my heart, so you need help for this"

hi we need to talk more about judo gold medallist christa deguchi.