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The TV is busted when Susie wakes up. One antenna dangles, dangerously close to snapping at its half-way point, and a large, spidery crack snakes up from the bottom left corner of the screen.
The screen. Tenna's face.
Quietly, so as not to wake Toriel — still sleeping as she had been in the Dark World — Susie stands, shuffling across the room to take a closer look at the damage. Dials and buttons are missing from the sides of the TV, but they're scattered along the floor, not entirely gone.
She feels along the sides, trying to count what's missing. Two dials on the right side, three buttons on the left. In her mind, she can hear Tenna's chipper voice: Don't touch that dial, folks!
Despite herself, Susie snorts. She can't imagine the old TV giving up that easily, not after how hard he tried to keep them in a neverending game show. She just hopes that it won't be too late, that sealing the Fountain hasn't caused Tenna's certain death.
It was simply easier to find him in the Light World, rather than searching through the shifting snow. She can only hope now that all his pieces will come with him when they move him.
The two dials are easy enough to find in the carpeting — two dark dots against the darker floor — but she has to feel around for the buttons. Two of them make themselves known, their rubber covering bumping into her clumsy claws, but the third —
Something touches her shoulder. She shoots up, only managing to keep herself quiet because of Toriel and Kris, and…
It's only Kris, holding the final button.
"Wanna go now?" Susie whispers, showing them the rest of Tenna's buttons and dials.
Kris shakes their head, placing the last button into her hand. Then, they point at Toriel. The meaning is clear: We can't just randomly take the TV.
It's true, but it's annoying. Susie rolls her eyes, shoving the collection of buttons and dials into her pocket for safe-keeping. She makes sure it's the good pocket, the one she patched last week, instead of the one that frayed open at the bottom the other day.
"Fine, okay," she sighs. She really just wants to get this done — she wants to make sure Tenna is okay, as weird as the idea is, and she doesn't want him to suffer more than he has to. Hopefully, he isn't conscious now, without the Fountain, but they can't count on it. "I'm going to run home. Get some supplies."
Kris nods. Their eyes cut over to their mother, but they ultimately say nothing.
It takes Susie fifteen minutes to walk home, find what she needs, and walk back to Kris's house. Her pockets feel heavier — she's placed her sewing kit in the bad pocket, and a small roll of electrical tape in the good one with Tenna's buttons and dials. The wire cutters she nabbed from under the sink — not that anyone will notice they're gone — get hung through one of her belt loops.
Kris's house is still dark, but surprisingly, Kris is outside. With them is a red wagon.
"Mom said we could take the TV," they mumble. Susie raises an eyebrow, and they elaborate, "She woke up when the door shut. I told her the TV stopped working." With a shrug, they add, "We never watched him anyway."
"Neat," Susie says, choosing to ignore the slight guilt in her friend's voice. "I'll grab him." She goes to the door, left ajar, and then stops. "Wait. How are we getting into —"
Kris holds up a lanyard by one of its keys. Most of the pins on it are hard to see, but beside the key is a school ID card with a picture of Toriel.
"Works for me."
Toriel snores through Susie's quiet grunts of effort, and she's still asleep as Kris pulls the door closed behind them. It takes effort to put the TV down gently into the wagon, but Susie manages it — partially out of concern for Tenna, partially to stay quiet so that they don't get asked why they're dragging a TV to school at four in the morning.
Once that's done, though, it's smooth sailing — figuratively, anyway. The wagon has a stuck wheel, and the TV is heavy, so it takes both Susie pushing and Kris pulling to keep it moving. It clunks with every slight pothole in the road, and they can't help but wince at the swinging of the broken antenna.
"I'd tape it up now, but I don't wanna fuck it up," Susie sighs, puffing a little from the effort of pushing the wagon.
Kris nods in agreement, but reaches for the rabbit ears nevertheless. Carefully, they bend the dangling end of the broken one into a crude horseshoe, and then loop it around the in-tact antenna beside it. It's not perfect, but it keeps the end from swinging precariously with every movement.
"...I hope he's okay," Susie mutters as they force the wagon up the school's walkway. She leans on the side of it as Kris fiddles with their mother's keys. "Tenna, I mean."
"...Me too," Kris agrees. It seems like they're about to say something else, but they don't. Susie doesn't press — it's pretty normal behavior from them.
The door to the school opens with nary a creak, and Kris stands aside, moving their arm in an After you type of gesture that loses all seriousness as they fluidly shift into a Will Smith pose. Susie snorts, hefting the TV from the wagon into her arms, and takes the invite.
The school is dark, but the closet is straight back from the front door, so they don't bother with their cellphone flashlights. Susie couldn't even if she wanted to, anyway — she has her hands full with the TV.
Besides, the inside of the closet is darker than dark, so the flashlights would only help for so long.
It's a relief to jump into the Dark World. The weight of the TV falls away, and her Dark World clothing takes the place of her ratty Light World clothes. She always feels more like herself in the Dark Worlds, even though she's a Lightner.
Ralsei is already waiting when they hit the ground, and Susie asks without preamble: "Where did Tenna end up?"
Without malice, Ralsei responds, "It's nice to see you too, Susie."
Tenna looks worse in the Dark World, but Susie supposes that's because there's more of him here. In the Light World, he's just a CRT TV. In the Dark World, that's just his head, and the rest of him is tall to boot.
His head matches his Light World damage, but his body… His body is almost worse. His arms have been severed, laying in a pile beside him, still clothed in the sleeves of his red suit jacket. Wires stick out at his shoulder joint, fraying and messy, and their partners at the ends of his arms are similarly destroyed. His clothing is soaking wet, as if he'd laid in the snow for hours, but he's thankfully been stripped of his heavy suit jacket — it's hanging on the sentient coat rack, drip drying, leaving him in a damp button-down and suspenders.
As Susie and Kris stare, one of the Shadowguys hanging around says something to Ralsei, though it sounds only like a quick saxophone riff. A Pippins chirps, "It's right here," in response to whatever was said.
It appears to be a manual for Tenna's particular mode of CRT TV. It's yellowed with age, and a little water stained in places, but it seems functional. Even with that, though, no one seems eager to try to repair him.
"Okay," Susie sighs, pulling out her supplies from where they'd landed in her inventory. Ralsei cocks his head like a confused dog as she lays out the sewing supplies, the electrical tape, and the wire cutters.
"Why the sewing supplies?" he asks.
"For his jacket," Susie grunts, already moving towards Tenna. She's rapidly losing patience, and the room seems to know it — no one moves to help her, but that's fine. It means she doesn't have to worry about anyone else fucking up.
She clicks dials back into place easily, twisting them a few times to make sure they stay on. She can hear Tenna's voice as she does: Don't touch that dial! and the accompanying aside about being gentle. They remain where they should, thankfully, so she leaves them alone.
Next, she switches to his left side, pressing the buttons back in with a little more difficulty. It's not hard, per se, but it requires a little more strength, and she has to hold Tenna's head steady to do it.
"Wait," one of the Pippinses says as she pushes the last one in, but it's too late. The power button turns from red to green, and Tenna jerks to life.
His screen is just static for a moment, and then it flashes to a test pattern. Susie's seen more vibrant colors, but she won't tell him that. Instead, she says, "Tenna?" because the rest of the room seems to be collectively holding its breath.
"S-susie?" he asks. His voice shakes with anxiety. "Where the heck am I?"
"This is our Castle Town, mister Tenna," Ralsei says. "You're in my castle, and we're going to fix you up, okay?"
"Who's we?" Susie scowls. "I'm the one doing the work — and that's not an invitation for the rest of you to come fuck things up!" The last part is directed at the Shadowguys and Pippinses who inched closer as Susie had started complaining, but they flinch back when she stops.
Quieter, to Tenna, she says, "Don't worry, man. I'm gonna fix you up. No one's gonna throw you away, not if I have anything to say about it."
Tenna doesn't reply, but the tense set of his shoulders relaxes.
"Let me… I guess I should do your arms first," she mutters. "Will it hurt you if I cut and strip your wires?"
"...No," Tenna says, but it's obvious he's lying. Still, Susie doesn't call him out on it — she doesn't like looking weak, either.
Someone — Kris or Ralsei — shoos the remaining TV World Darkners out of the room. Susie snips the frayed bits of the wires hanging from Tenna's shoulder sockets quickly, and then falls into the quiet monotony of using her pocket knife to strip the ends. Beside her, Tenna's chest rises and falls rhythmically, as if he's doing a breathing exercise.
There's sweat dripping down his screen. It's finally settled to his usual face, but it looks fuzzy, as if there's a cloud of very low-opacity static layered over it. The crack on his screen makes it look even fuzzier.
"Do you need a break?" Susie asks, causing Tenna to startle.
"No, no, I've — ah, I've never —"
"We're taking a break," Susie interrupts, deadpan. She sits heavily beside him, feeling dwarfed by his height. "Your acting sucks ass when you're in pain, dude."
Tenna laughs, but it's clear his heart isn't in it. "You'll have to excuse me, Susie, I didn't… I didn't expect to wake up again. Certainly I didn't expect you all to come back for me after…"
"After we ran after the Knight? Yeah, uh," Susie scratches her head, a little self-conscious. "Sorry about that. I…"
"No, no, it's quite alright! Obviously a Lightner is more important!" He says it as fact, not as a dig, but it bothers Susie nevertheless. "Besides, I'm pretty sturdy, so don't you worry!"
"Uh-huh," Susie says, standing again. "You good?"
Tenna nods. "I'd prefer to get this over with, if you please!"
"Sounds good to me," Susie replies, clicking open her pocket knife again.
"...The cutting was the more difficult part," Tenna confesses. "But you were so quick about it! You're incredible, Susie!"
She grins, enjoying both the compliment and the return of Tenna's larger than life personality. "Careful," she says, "might give me a big head."
Near the door, Kris snorts, and Susie resists throwing things at them only because everything within reach is sharp. Besides, the quicker she finishes this, the quicker Tenna can get back to his old self — and the quicker they can find a new home for him.
"Susie…" Ralsei hazards. "If you have Tenna handled, perhaps Kris and I could go help the other newcomers get settled?"
"Sounds good to me," Susie shrugs, stripping the last cable on Tenna's right side. "See you guys later."
"Goodbye, my star contestants!" Tenna chirps. As soon as the door has closed behind them, however, he slumps a bit, broken antenna dangling over his legs. The quick fix Kris performed must have stopped working once Susie woke Tenna up.
They don't speak as Susie realigns the good antenna, and then tapes up the broken one to match it. She's never considered herself good with feelings, but Tenna is practically radiating unhappiness. Big man, big feelings, she supposes.
Impulsively, she tapes over the largest part of the crack on his face, too. Surprisingly, she hears the soft ting! of healing magic taking effect, and she sees Tenna's mouth curl up into an exhausted smile.
"...What's up, man?" Susie asks, stepping over his long legs to work on the wires on his other side. Tenna flinches as she quickly snips the ends of these cables, too, but settles once the wire cutters are placed down and the pocket knife re-opened.
"It's, perhaps, a bit… strange, I suppose! But I feel as if I don't need to act around you, Susie." He looks at her, and Susie looks back down at the half-stripped wires in her hands, because even though he has no visible eyes, she can't keep eye contact. "You and I… we're kindred spirits, I think!"
"Both afraid of being thrown away?" Susie asks, half-smiling. "Yeah, maybe." She makes a final cut in the wire, and steps over Tenna's legs again. Finally, she can start on his actual arms. "This part you shouldn't feel, at least."
"I have absolutely no feeling in my arms or hands now!" Tenna agrees, though he still winces as she snips and strips the wires. Must be like getting blood drawn, she rationalizes, or going to the dentist.
The hard part comes with trying to reattach his arms. Each one contains a multitude of colorful wires that connects to his shoulders, and while she can figure out what goes where pretty easily, his arms are too heavy for her to lift for the time required to twist and wrap the cables.
"Can you lay down?" She asks. He stares at her, as if he's blinking in confusion, before shuffling his big body awkwardly in order to lay on his back. "Thanks."
She goes his left arm first, since it's closer to the wall and she can lean back against it. His arm is heavy in her lap, but cold. The rest of him is giving off a lot of heat, so hopefully it will warm up quickly.
"...Are you able to get hypothermia?" Susie asks. It might explain how quiet he is, but she has a feeling that he's just… emotional. He did almost die, after all.
"No, no… I'm just thinking, that's all," Tenna replies. His face still seems slightly staticky. "You're a very nice girl, Susie. Absolutely marvelous!"
"Still gonna make a hall of fame, just for me?" she snorts, twisting and taping wires at an even pace. "...Most people think I'm a bad kid. Like I said."
"Well, I'm of the opinion that most people are completely wrong about you!" he says. His head twists a bit — not too much, given the size of his head, but enough that he's more-or-less looking at her. "Besides, you're giving this old CRT a second chance — not many people would do that!"
"Heh, just, uh." She can't think of a response that doesn't come off as completely sappy. Tenna believed in her and liked her, and most people… didn't. She was the girl who would flunk out of school and end up dead in a ditch at 19, or in a dead-end fast food job. She was the mean girl, the bully.
To Tenna, she was a star contestant, and in his book, that meant a lot. So it means a lot in her book, too, now.
With a small smile, she twists and wraps the final wires in his arm, and then hooks the… plastic? silicon? Whatever material it is, she hooks the plates forming his upper arm to the joint of his shoulder.
Immediately, Tenna's hand makes a fist, and then unclenches. Then, without warning, his arm swoops Susie into a half-hug.
"Woah!" She yelps, falling onto his chest. He's warm, like a TV left on for hours, but his clothing is still damp from the snow.
"You're wonderful, Susie, absolutely wonderful!" he cries. Despite missing an arm, he's strong, and Susie resigns herself to being smothered. "Here I thought I was irrelevant junk, left to freeze, but you…! You came back!"
"You believed in me," Susie shrugs, flushing a bit like she's been called on in class. "...Means a lot."
Tenna looks like he's about to cry, which is remarkable because he doesn't have visible eyes. His smile is wobbly, though, so she feels safe in her guess.
"Alright, alright," she says, wriggling out of his hold before he starts sobbing or something. "If that one's on alright, let me get the next one… I still have to do your jacket, too."
"My jacket…?" Tenna asks. "Ah, the sleeves…" he realizes, disappointed.
"Lucky for you, I'm good with basic electronics and with sewing," Susie assures him as she steps around him for his other arm. She sits down on his right side, again with his huge arm in her lap. "I just figured you'd want your arms first."
"Susie…!" he cries. "Oh, you're incredible! My greatest star contestant!"
She dodges his arm this time — easy now that she's on the wrong side for him to reach her. "Hugs after I finish this," she orders, though she can't keep herself from grinning at how happy he seems.
"Maybe even a board or two before Kris and I have to leave."