lifetothefullest | [IC Inbox]

[Rosen doesn't get up, nor does he even look at the door]

I'm here.

[Just before him sit the letter and compass that Sans left for him, one sitting neatly atop the other.]

[He'll just take that as a 'come in' and does so, frowning at the forlorn sight in front of him.]

What are those?

[Lee only look up when Lance comes in the room, gaze flicking between him and the objects before him. For a moment he frowns deep, lips pressing together in a thin line. He still doesn't want to accept the answer.

But at long last he answers in a tight voice]

Sans. He, um, he apparently had a contingency plan, in case he-

[He lets the sentence drop off, jumping straight to the next]

He left them for me.

Edited 2017-07-30 01:12 (UTC)

He's gone too?

[He says it quietly, sympathetically; losing one person is hard enough, let alone two. Lance isn't sure how close Rosen was to either Sans or Frisk, but he'd gotten the impression--and even more so now--that he'd really cared about them.]

I'm sorry.

[Rosen nods slowly.]

They're both gone.

[He wonders if perhaps making himself say it will make it easier. So far its not working]

You know what is the worst part of it? [He swallows hard and isn't really waiting for Lance to give an answer]

I know that the world they are going back to is...is...[his brain refuses to provide him with a decent descriptions so he ends with-] Its a fucked up place.

[Lance gives a long exhale, trying to figure out what to say in response; there's nothing that can make this better, but he doesn't really think that's what Rosen's expecting anyway. It's more about not being alone, and Lance steps into the room more fully and sits on the end of the bed.]

I wish I could say something that would help, but you know as well as I do that it's a matter of time.

[But he's there to do whatever he can in that time.]

[Rosen shakes his head, both as an acknowledgement that there is nothing that could be said, and also as a signal that he wouldn't want to hear someone try. He is appreciative of the fact that Lance is emotionally intelligent enough not to endeavor to do so.]

Please, Lance, just...just help me function again?

[Its said quietly and with an uncomfortable flatness.]

[Lance chews on his bottom lip for a moment before catching himself and stopping; normally has some idea of what to do, but right now he just feels really concerned for his friend and somewhat useless over not knowing anything in particular that might help him. Losing people isn't something some words can fix, and considering other conversations and impressions he's gotten Lance doesn't think that's the only problem by far.

But he takes a deep breath, focuses for the moment on thinking instead of feeling, and stands up again before turning toward Rosen.]

Okay. The first thing we're doing is going on a walk.

[Because as far as he knows Rosen has been hiding inside for the past several days, so they're going to go get some fresh air and exercise. That alone can do a lot a good for one's mental health, despite how simple it is, and it's a good step in 'functioning' no matter how the word is meant.]

[Rosen's eyes narrow, a canine abusing the corner of his mouth in a subconscious echo of Lance's. It's almost like he doesn't comprehend what he's being told.]

Right now?

Yes. Right now. When was the last time you left the apartment?

[He's guessing the answer is in terms of days at this point.]

When did the cave become the cave again?

[His gaze remains steady on Lance]

Three days or so.

[Definitely time to go outside. But that's also an opening to ask--]

Is there something about the event itself that particularly upset you?

[Because this behavior would've begun before realizing Frisk and Sans are gone, if it's been since the event.]

[Lee rolls the question around before slowly shaking his head]

No. I was...I was happy.

[Though maybe that is part of the problem]

[Lance understands that, nodding a little in thought.]

Do you miss that life?

I don't think 'miss it' is the right way to say it. It's just that, um, in that version of things I hadn't made the mistakes I had-er-have in this one.

[His fingers fiddle uncomfortably with the seam of his pocket]

I was married, it was a happy relationship. [He quickly amends that statement] that is, according to the illusion, of course. And I helped people. I wasn't--

[Selfish. Isolated.]

--you know. [Me.]

[He understands that as well, at least enough to get why Rosen might feel conflicted about the experience.]

It was a look at what could have been, instead of what is.

[That's a concept Lance has been dealing with a lot recently, although more in terms of the future than the past.]

But 'what is' is what we have, so come on. Get up. Besides, I don't think it's quite as bad as it seems like it is right now.

[Rosen does help people, and sure, the Rosen in that alternate reality hadn't made the same mistakes but Lance is willing to bet that he also didn't know as much, or learned as many important lessons. Lance knows he hadn't himself.]

[Rosen doesn't answer immediately, instead slowly stretching out one long spindly leg then the other, and pushing himself up off the floor. He stands hunched a moment, looking more like an arthritic 70 yr old than the spry 60 yr old he normally is.]

I'm not sure being married to Regis counts as a 'what could have been'

[The expression he gives lands is one of dead seriousness masking sarcasm. Its also a shortcut of sneaking in another issue he's been blindsided by for the past few days.]

[Come on, old man. Getting moving will help.

Lance raises his eyebrows slightly at Rosen for his comment, reading the undertones of it but also glad that he can manage sarcasm.]

I meant the happily married part in general, not specifically to Regis, although that could still have been. It would just have taken somewhat more drastic changes, like dimensional travel.

[He says it matter-of-factly, not bringing up the issue he's pretty sure Rosen's actually getting at; again it's better for Rosen to say it himself.]

[Rosen trusts Lance's skills of perception and assumes for the most part the man is picking up whatever hints he's dropping, and for the moment thats all he's prepared to do. Hint. Suggest. But he's not surprised as someone who, at least at one point in his life, was a competent mental health professional when Lance is quietly insistent on having Rosen set the pace and standard of discussion.

Its what Lee would have done back when he could remember how to do all of this.

He reaches for a dark blue cardigan, tugging it on and buttoning it distractedly before looking to Lance]

Alright. Lead the way.

[Alright, so he isn't going to say anything just yet. That's fine; Lance mentally files the subject away for now, and focuses instead on the task of getting Rosen out of the house. At least he's moving now, and after he puts on the cardigan Lance leads the way from the apartment.

Once they're actually outside, he makes a dramatic show of opening his arms out wide and tipping his head back as if basking in the glow of the artificial light. Which is exactly what he's doing.]

Feel the fake cave-sun and the should-be staler than it actually is air. What a time to be alive.

[He says it with all the enthusiasm of a teenage goth, purposefully contrasting with his gestures.

Cheer up, Rosen.]

[At the start Rosen follows in the manner of the least eager dog being taken for a walk, trudging a few paces behind his younger counterpart before beginning to at least put in the effort to walk shoulder to shoulder with him.

When Lance makes a physical show of taking in their surroundings, Rosen leans his head back and stares upward very seriously. Intent on the cave ceiling. In a voice as flat as Lance's he remarks]

Did you know if you manage to get up there it actually says 'gullible' on the roof of the cave?

[Lance glances over at Rosen, grinning both at the comment and at the fact that Rosen made it.]

I would hope so, or someone who can fly or whatever is missing out on a great opportunity.

[Also he is definitely not looking.]

[Rosen hadn't really expected him to but the corner of his mouth quirks upward when Lance plays along with the joke.]

That was the first thing Sans ever said to me here.

[Admittedly someone attempting to play a prank on you is an odd thing to be nostalgic about, but Lee feels an uncomfortable yet familiar tightness in his chest thinking about it. He knows what the sadness of loss feel like when it rears its head in his life]

[Ah. Well, that makes the somewhat out of nowhere joke make sense. Lance is quiet a moment; he didn't know Sans that well, but he's spoken with the skeleton enough to be able to facilitate some reminiscing.]

The first thing he said to me involved making fun of my food choices.

[Which had been... Completely warranted, but Lance had been new, seriously hurt, and still under the impression things were a dream; all of that meant he was more than within his rights to eat muffins and nothing else at the feast. Right? Right.

And then grins, realizing something and adding as a joke--]

I guess you two had that in common. No wonder you got along.

[Lee is about to say something but the last comment catches him unprepared and he actually manages a low, weak but wholly real chuckle under his breath, the sound somewhat wheezy.]

Of the things we had in common, that would be one of the better ones.

[The amusement ebbs away almost as soon as it had come]

I take it the two of you never got that friendly then?

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