[ asriel looks down at their hands and wonders briefly if he's suffered enough for the curse to be satisfied, realising belatedly that there's another silence and it's his turn to fill it. everything is in past tense, which makes trying to distance himself from it harder than usual in this case. he doesn't linger on why. ]
It could be worse; you could've been replaced by a polar bear.
[ he isn't even bitter about it — perhaps for extremely petty reasons — but those count just fine. in any case, it's a point he's willing to volunteer because it feels less likely to run into another mention of anyone's mother. his bond with stelmaria also feels slightly less strained, so he supposes a few small concessions must count for something. ]
no subject
It could be worse; you could've been replaced by a polar bear.
[ he isn't even bitter about it — perhaps for extremely petty reasons — but those count just fine. in any case, it's a point he's willing to volunteer because it feels less likely to run into another mention of anyone's mother. his bond with stelmaria also feels slightly less strained, so he supposes a few small concessions must count for something. ]