john wick brainrot hq

You appear to be staring intently at it too, your eyebrows furrowed. “Huh.”

“Any idea what that is?” He says quietly. Toriel had no reaction to it at all when she walked past it. 

“Nope,” you murmur, seemingly mesmerized. As if in a daze, you step closer to it, reaching out to touch it. John waits with bated breath for something to happen, but you only turn back to him with a disappointed expression.

“Nothing happened.” You frown, walking back to him. “You try it.”

Never one to say no to you, John steps forward to touch the star. He waits for his hand to make contact with something solid, but instead he feels a wave of warmth wash through him. The ache in his left knee disappears and he feels strangely determined. Determined to do what, he doesn’t quite know. In any case, he reports his findings to you as you both head up to the doorway where Toriel waits. 

“I didn’t feel anything warm.” You muse. “My hand just went right through.”

Toriel smiles warmly as the two of you walk up the staircase. “Come, young ones. Allow me to educate you both on how the Ruins operates.”

The three of you walk into a smaller room (still aggressively purple), with six white tiles laid in a pattern on the side. There is a line of lighter purple right in the middle of them, passing two tiles. Before John can even ask what they’re for, Toriel walks over the tiles not touched by the line and pulls a lever. The door on the other end of the room opens with a soft groan.

“The Ruins are filled with puzzles,”  Toriel explains. “Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. It would be best to familiarize yourselves with them.”

“I see,” John replies, trying not to let his confusion show. You, on the other hand, turn to John with an expression of what the fuck?

“Head into the next room with me and I will show you more of these puzzles.” Toriel smiles before walking through the door, leaving you and John to follow her. Upon noticing a worn signage  by the doorway, John halts to read it.

“Only the fearless may proceed,” John reads. “Brave ones, foolish ones—both walk not the middle road.”

“Well that’s ominous,” you remark. “Must be a hint for the puzzle.”

John turns back to the tile puzzle Toriel had solved earlier. The tiles in the middle, the ones right on the lighter purple remain unpressed. “Guess so.”

For the next few puzzles, Toriel leads the way, solving most of them for the two of you. She only steps back for what she deems “safer” puzzles, which can be solved by just pressing switches. The deeper Toriel leads you into the Ruins, the more confused he is. The Ruins are no doubt old, but it appears to be taken care of. However, other than Toriel and Flowey earlier, there appears to be no one else in the area. 

He’s content to let you take the lead in puzzle solving, stepping back and watching as you step on tiles or pull levers with Toriel’s guidance. He is not, however, oblivious to the way Toriel’s smile seems to falter whenever she looks at him for too long. It doesn’t take a genius to see she doesn’t trust him.

John doesn’t particularly mind. He doesn’t trust her or this place either.

It isn’t until Toriel introduces the two of you to a training dummy that John bothers joining in the conversation.

“As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you,” Toriel says seriously. “You will need to be prepared for such situations.”

The training dummy looks different from anything John has seen in his life. It doesn’t look anywhere near human. In fact it looks a bit like a character you’d shown him before. Snoopy? Except this has no face and no ears or limbs. It’s worn out and stitched in certain areas.

“Would one of you like to step forward?” Toriel says, looking at you directly. John doesn’t like that one bit.

“I’ll do it,” he says firmly. Lord knows he’s done more than fight a dummy.

“Ah! Very well then, young one.” Toriel beckons him to step closer. “When you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight.”

John stands just before the dummy, staring at it intensely. 

Toriel continues. “Your soul will be exposed, and you and the monster will enter a different plane temporarily. There, you will have to fight.”

“A fight?” You repeat worriedly, looking at John. “A bit dangerous, isn’t it?”

“Worry not.” Toriel smiles. “When you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time; I shall come to resolve the conflict for you.”

“That’s unwise,” John replies, a hint of annoyance. 

“It’s kind,” Toriel corrects. “Violence is unnecessary in the Underground, and monsters are not as strong as humans. The right thing to do is to spare your enemy when you get the chance.”

John wants to argue back but decides against it. Fine. He’ll play by the rules.

Stepping closer to the training dummy, he instinctively brings his fists up. Should he punch it? That what he would normally do, but in a heartbeat, he finds himself in a black void again. A maroon heart glows in his chest, and the training dummy is stark white before him. 

Right. Toriel said to strike up a conversation.

“Hello?” John says hesitantly. The training dummy merely stares back at him, and the world flickers back into existence.

You’re staring at him with wide eyes and he raises an eyebrow. Toriel, on the other hand, looks pleased.

“Well done, John.” She smiles. “Now, I think you are both ready for the rest of the Ruins.”

“Thank you,” you reply, moving towards John. Your palm rests just on the small of his back, offering him a tidbit of comfort. John leans towards you ever so slightly.

“For now, I must attend to some errands,” Toriel continues. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out an ancient looking brick phone, one that has certainly lived past its prime a long time ago. “Here. Use this phone to contact me if you need anything, alright?”

You accept the phone, staring at it bewilderedly. “Damn. How old is this phone,” you mumble to yourself.

“I would like to discourage you from leaving this room, given that it is quite dangerous to wander around. There are many puzzles I have not been able to maintain as nicely as I would like them to be…” Toriel trails off before continuing. “However, I cannot stop you. If you truly feel that you must leave, I only ask that you keep in mind what I have taught you.”

“Alright,” John says quietly. Toriel looks at him pointedly, before sighing deeply. 

“Very well,” she says reluctantly. “I will leave for now. Try not to leave this room.”

With that, Toriel rounds the corner and disappears from view. You immediately turn to John, waggling your eyebrows. “We’re totally not staying here, are we?”

The corners of John’s mouth quirk up. “I suppose not, if you have something to say about it.”

“Alright.” You chuckle. “Let’s give it a few minutes before we leave though. Just to make sure the coast is clear.”

The two of you head to a corner in the room before sitting down, your knees just touching each other. Not for the first time today, John found himself at a loss for words. There were a lot of things not adding up in his mind, but he couldn’t piece them together quite yet. One thing was for sure, however; he didn’t trust Toriel. 

He is used to getting certain looks from other assassins. Majority of them looked at him with fear, envy, or respect. Some looked up at him, and some looked down on him. In any case, John could at least hazard a guess as to why they reacted to him in that way. His reputation of being the boogeyman, an emissary of death, or lo spettro often meant that others had preconceived notions about him. It never affected his work negatively, and so he paid no mind to the whispers surrounding his name.

Toriel, however, is a different story. A mere two hours ago, John had no idea that she even existed, and she had no idea who he was either. So why did she look at him with such wariness? 

John glances at you briefly. You’re still leaning back against the wall, your eyes closed as you breathe in deeply. Toriel looked at you with a smile at all times, her expression sometimes bordering on affection. Meanwhile, Toriel looked at him with barely concealed suspicion.

“I don’t trust Toriel,” he mutters.

You blink. “Huh?”

“I don’t trust Toriel,” he repeats. “Something’s strange.”

“Is it the fight thing?” You lean towards him. “I thought that was a bit weird too… she can’t honestly be expecting us to wait for her to resolve things right?”

John nods. “I find it hard to believe that violence is unnecessary in fights.”

You hum in response, fidgeting with your fingers. “She seems nice enough, but the flower from earlier was…”

“Insane?” John suggests.

“Sure,” you snort. “I was gonna go for not as nice, but that works too. Just makes me wonder how the other monsters would be, if there are any.”

Another silence falls on the two of you. John stretches his legs out, subconsciously rubbing his left knee. The ache has slowly begun to make its return after walking for so long. 

“There’s gotta be an exit somewhere, right?” You say hopefully. “I know there are a lot of caves in Mount Ebott. We’re bound to find our way out eventually.”

“I hope so,” John replies. “We still have food and water in—”

Right. The bags had been left behind on the foot of a tree right before both of you fell.

Your enthusiasm wilts slightly. “Fuck, I forgot about that. Guess we should go look for that, then.”

He breathes in deeply, nodding. “Yeah. We should get going.”

The two of you get up, much to the complaints of John’s aching joints (was thirty five already old? Winston always said he was still in his prime, but right now his back begged to differ.) As the two of you dust off your clothes, neither of you notice a golden yellow flower observing both of you from a distance.

“Interesting.” Flowey smiles sinisterly. “This is going to be very interesting.”