The Filial Daughter

by crackerjackermackeral

Summary:

Another glitch in the machine sends visitors from the Fellswap Gold universe to the prime timeline. Only, this time, these skeletons have a Chara with them.

Polite and obedient Chara, the daughter of the captain of the Royal Guard, isn't what the others have expected. Yet with her soul bright red with determination, she isn't what she seems either.

Notes:

Just a warning: My interpretation of Fellswap Gold may differ from what the original creator had in mind.

Chapter 1: Day 1: The Arrival

The sounds of the clock tick-tocking couldn't be any louder. 

Chara toyed with the stray thread on the skirt of her dress, absently noting that her father was going to be in a grumbly mood now that he didn't have access to his sewing machine. Perhaps the people here could provide him one. Perhaps she could find a pair of scissors to snip away the thread before he would notice. Either way, she knew better than to yank it off unless she wanted to get an earful of his nagging.

Chara wished that the discussion taking place upstairs would end soon. Not just because she was bored with waiting, but because of the unnerving way the skeleton across from her stared at her. 

She dared to chance a look, catching a glimpse of a golden tooth and a fur-trimmed jacket. When she saw the corners of his jaw lift, her gaze immediately dropped to her lap, her heart pounding loudly in her ears. 

But not as loud as the footfalls that later thundered into the foyer. Chara lifted her head to see a skeleton in black attire, complemented with a red bandana, stomping towards them. His eyelights flashed menacingly, and Chara felt herself stiffen in wariness. 

"MUTT!" the skeleton bellowed, turning his attention onto the gold-toothed one. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"watching the human, m'lord," the other—Mutt—answered lackadaisically. 

"WATCHING—! HAVE I GIVEN YOU ORDERS TO WATCH THE HUMAN?" growled the angry skeleton. Before Mutt could form a response, the angry skeleton bulldozed on, saying, "NO, I HAVE NOT! AND AS FAR AS I'M AWARE, I HAVE NOT GIVEN ANYONE ELSE PERMISSION TO GIVE YOU SUCH ORDERS. GET OUT THERE AND DO YOUR TASKS, OR SO HELP ME I WILL MAKE YOU TASTE YOUR OWN DUST!"

Chara cringed. Her Underground had been harsh, but that remark had been particularly harsh. 

Mutt was unphased, however. "welp, as you say, m'lord," he drawled. He pushed himself off the chair and onto his feet. The skeleton was quite tall—taller than her uncle, who was one of the tallest people she knew. Ever since arriving here, however, Chara had gotten to see a few who surpassed him in height.

To her surprise, the angry skeleton shot her a disgruntled scowl before pivoting on his heel and marching away. Mutt gave her a lopsided grin and a wink, then trailing after his lord. Chara waited until she could no longer hear their steps before sinking into her seat. Her relief was like getting a taste of fresh air, especially now that Mutt was gone.

Really, though—why had he been here? Watching the human? She was certain that it had more to do than that. 

When she had exhausted all her hypotheses (which, frankly, weren't much), Chara resumed her activity of the day—silently complaining about how bored she was. She drummed her fingers on her thigh, attempting to match the beat with the tick-tocking that bounced against the walls. She then stood up and paced around to get her blood flowing. Sitting for too long wasn't good for one's health.

Finally, at long last, she heard her father's voice echoing above her. 

"—PROVIDED THAT THERE WON'T BE ANY COMPLICATIONS, OF COURSE."

Chara leaped back onto her feet and hurried to stand in front of the stairs. "Dad, Papyrus!" she burst out. "What now? Did they find a way to send us back? Or are we stuck here? How long? Do we have a way to contact the others back home?"

"GOODNESS, CHARA," her father tutted. "REIN IN THAT IMPATIENCE OF YOURS. YOU AREN'T A CHILD."

Being chided with strangers around, even at this age, wasn't out of the ordinary, but nevertheless irksome. She resisted rolling her eyes. She knew better than to show any more impertinence after the retort that would inevitably leave her mouth. "I can't help it; my soul's trait is determination, not patience."

Her father, on the other hand, didn't bother holding back his own eye roll. "BELIEVE ME, I KNOW," he replied dryly. 

Chuckling behind him, the skeleton from the basement—the one with pink slippers and blue jacket—trundled into view. "heh. cute kid."

Chara frowned as her brows knitted together. From what she had gleaned back in the basement, this skeleton, with his outward laziness and indifference, was this universe's version of her father. He was a Sans, amazingly enough. Yet despite how unremarkable he appeared to be, him being the engineer of the machine below must mean that he possessed great intellect. 

It was rather disorienting to know that there were different versions of both her father and uncle within this building. Mutt was a Papyrus, and the angry lord was a Sans. When they had climbed out of the basement, the gentleman and the nerdy-looking one that they had passed by were Papyruses. The skeleton who had blitzed by shortly afterward was a Sans.

They had been fairly simple to distinguish; all she had to do was take note of their height. But while they all shared the same name and body type, they were so different in terms of personality. If the unprecedented dimension trip wasn't jarring enough, then this definitely was. 

Papyrus scuttled past them until he reached her. He quickly tucked her into his embrace and buried his face into her hair. Chara returned his hug and rubbed soothing circles onto his back. Either he didn't take the news well or he felt deprived of affection; honestly, though, Papyrus would cling onto her for whatever reason.

"they seem pretty close."

"AS I HAVE SAID, SHE IS FAMILY."

"i know, pal, but seeing it is just different than hearing it." Chara poked her head out to peek around Papyrus. The lazy Sans was rubbing the back of his neck as though he was trying to do something about his discomfort. "it's still kinda surreal, though. another me being a dad, i mean."

Her father snorted. "PERHAPS SOMEDAY, YOU TOO WILL KNOW THE JOYS OF FATHERHOOD."

"heh. bonefully, not anytime soon." Sans then noticed Chara staring at him. He raised a hand in greeting and said, "hey, i'm sans the skeleton, but you can call me comic."

Comic? 

"HM. NOW THEN, MAY WE BE BROUGHT TO OUR QUARTERS? MY BROTHER AND I HAVE SOME THINGS TO DISCUSS WITH CHARA."

"sure thing." Comic lead them upstairs. They walked through several halls and turned around several more corners. Chara feared that they were stuck in a labyrinth than a mansion, and she wondered if more time would be spent on her getting lost than the skeletons working on the machine. Fortunately, Comic stopped in front of a line of doors seconds before Chara would actually believe it. "here we are. sorry that it's so far back, but these are the only ones available."

"IT IS OF LITTLE CONCERN. THANK YOU FOR ACCOMMODATING US," her father said. 

"Yes, thank you," Chara piped up, mindful to be courteous to their host. 

Comic turned that grin of his onto her. Although, there was something in his body posture that didn't portray friendliness. He wasn't hostile by any means—her father wouldn't stand for anyone threatening his family—but more so...awkward. He brought his shoulders up and dropped them. "no problem. well, i'll leave you folks to it. let me know if you guys need anything." With that said, Comic ambled away. 

Chara turned her attention to one of the doors. So, they just...picked a room? She wrapped a hand around the knob and pushed the door open. On the other side, there was a bed, a dresser, a knee-level bookshelf, and a wooden closet. The furnishings were simple and functional, yet they made the room look bare. Maybe she had become rather spoiled after her adoption, but no matter. 

She went straight to the bed and flopped on top, groaning delightfully into the cool, clean sheets. 

"YOUNG LADY, IF YOU MUST BEHAVE SO JUVENILE, AT LEAST DO IT WITH THE DOOR CLOSED."

Chara groaned again, but without delight this time. "There's no one else here but us, Dad."

"I SEE THAT YOU HAVE CONVENIENTLY FORGOTTEN THAT YOU'RE IN A HOUSE FULL OF TELEPORTING SKELETONS. NOW, SIT UP, CHARA; THERE IS MUCH THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW."

She huffed in exasperation, but she pulled herself upright into a sitting position as Papyrus closed the door behind him. Papyrus settled himself comfortably on the bed next to her while her father planted himself in front of them with his arms crossed.

"So," said Chara, "what did you learn?"

As it turned out, a lot.

Chara had been correct in her assumption of being in an alternate universe with alternate versions of her family dwelling within the same universe. The reason being? The malfunctioning in Comic's machine. Somehow, that huge hunk of metal was able to rip into the fabric of the multiverse and drag in unsuspecting people. 

The common denominator of these visitors was a pair of skeleton brothers, possibly because of Comic and his brother's magical signature being keyed in to the machine, but there had been a few Grillbys and Napstatons—Mettatons?—and others. There was an Undyne and an Alphys, albeit there was an odd quality in her father's voice when he had mentioned them. 

The machine pulling a Chara was a first.

"APPARENTLY, IN SOME UNIVERSES, THERE WOULD BE A FRISK BREAKING THE BARRIER INSTEAD OF A CHARA," her father informed. 

Chara perked up. "Frisk?"

Her father lifted a browbone. "IS THE NAME FAMILIAR TO YOU?"

"Kind of." Temmie had told her about the hidden child of the Ruins. Long ago, Prince Asriel and Temmie, who had been MK at the time, had wandered the Ruins and found a human lying on top of a mountain of plushies. Asgore had nursed the child back to full recovery and had kept the child a secret from the rest of the Underground, fearful that the queen would rob an innocent life just for being human. What happened next was...tragic, to say the least. 

Chara didn't elaborate as to how she knew the name Frisk, only giving him a dismissive excuse of hearing it offhand from Temmie. He looked displeased by the inadequate answer, but thankfully let it go. 

"IN THESE UNIVERSES, YOU'RE THE ADOPTED CHILD OF THE ROYAL FAMILY," he added.

"Me? Royalty?" Chara laughed, surprised. "I can't imagine Queen Toriel willingly accepting a human as her own!"

"JUST AS THE SANSES AND PAPYRUSES ARE DIFFERENT, SO ARE THE TORIELS."

Papyrus tugged on her sleeve to get her attention. He showed her his notepad, which read, "comic says the one here is like a real mom. bakes butterscotch pies."

Chara paused to imagine that. The towering, daunting warrior who had never been seen without her obsidian armor and dust-laden trident...wearing a pink frilly apron while holding a pie. The domestic image crumbled away easily, simply because maintaining it was impossible. 

"THE QUEEN IN THIS WORLD HAS ADOPTED THIS FRISK, WHO IS ALSO THE AMBASSADOR FOR THE MONSTERS. THE TITLE WAS BESTOWED AFTER THE BARRIER FELL."

Huh. Chara hadn't received a fancy title like that when she had freed the monsters. Then again, being an ambassador sounded like tiresome work. 

Wait, suppose if Frisk had freed the monsters at the same age when she had done it, then did that mean that the monsters had entrusted an important political role to a  child ? Who came up with that idea?

"If Frisk is the savior, then I must be the human daughter of this world's Queen Toriel," Chara figured. "I wonder if I'll have to meet her."

"THAT WON'T BE NECESSARY. ACCORDING TO COMIC, THAT CHARA DIED FROM AN ILLNESS LONG AGO."

Chara blinked. "Oh."

"AS TO WHAT THE ILLNESS WAS, NO ONE COULD SAY. NO MATTER." Her father looked away as though in thought. "WHILE WE DO NOT KNOW THE CONDITIONS OF THIS WORLD, I WILL GUARANTEE THAT YOU DO NOT FALL INTO THE SAME FATE."

Lovely. Just what she needed—her father having another excuse to mother-hen her. She could see why Papyrus had reached out for her the way he had, though. The times when she had fallen ill, her uncle had been a wreck, nearly spiraling into a sickness of his own from all the fretting that he had done. Throughout the years, he had become less anxious about her well-being after learning how durable the human body could be. However, the news of how one Chara hadn't been able to overcome her condition must have gotten him reeling with alarm. 

"WITH THAT BEING SAID, YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF UNDER THE SCRUTINY OF THE OTHER SKELETONS HERE. NOT UNDER SUSPICION, BUT THE FACT THAT YOU'RE ANOTHER VERSION OF THEIR CHARA MAY PIQUE THEIR CURIOSITY AND INTEREST. SOME, I MUST WARN YOU, MAY BE OF THE...UNSAVORY VARIETY."

Her mind automatically supplied Mutt's face. "I see."

"HAD I KNOWN, I WOULD'VE INSISTED ON NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE." Her father's eyesocket went dark for a moment, then flickering back to life a second later. "OF COURSE, AFTER HAVING JUST ARRIVED HERE, WE HAVE YET TO ASCERTAIN THESE MISCREANTS' INTENTIONS. THEREFORE, WE SHALL ESTABLISH PROTOCOL—"

Oh no. "Dad, please. I'm in my twenties. I can handle myself." She had survived the Underground with only Temmie's assistance, after all. 

"I KNOW THAT, BUT I DO NOT TRUST THE OTHERS HANDLING THEMSELVES," her father said flatly. 

Chara cast a pleading look at Papyrus. He wavered under her stare, but he resolutely shook his head. Great, he was also on board with the idea.

"AS I WAS SAYING, THERE SHALL BE A PROTOCOL. WHEREVER YOU VENTURE, YOU SHALL BE ACCOMPANIED BY EITHER ME OR PAPYRUS UNTIL NIGHTFALL. AT STRICTLY TWENTY-TWO HUNDRED, YOU ARE TO NOT WANDER AROUND BUT TO REMAIN IN YOUR ROOM. IF YOU REQUIRE TO USE THE FACILITIES, ARRIVE AT MY OR PAPYRUS'S DOOR SO THAT WE MAY ESCORT YOU. DON'T THINK YOU CAN SNEAK OFF ON YOUR OWN; MY EYES SEE ALL."

By that, he meant the tracker that he had gotten Papyrus to create for him. 

Chara sighed. "Alright, fine," she relented. There was no way that she could argue her way out of this one; they were both adamant about this. As disappointing as it was that she would get little to no privacy, she supposed that there was one upside that she could agree with. She didn't want to have a run-in encounter with Mutt by herself, so there was some comfort in their protectiveness. "Is there anything else?"

This time, Papyrus was the one to speak. "ni-nicknames," he croaked.

"YES, NICKNAMES. IN ORDER TO DIFFERENTIATE OURSELVES FROM OUR ALTERNATES, EVERYONE IS TO USE A NICKNAME." The perpetual grin was out of place with the disdain coloring his voice. "QUAINT, IS IT NOT?"

"Oh, so that's why that Sans called himself Comic." Interesting. "Have you come up with any?"

"I ENTERTAINED THE IDEA OF USING CAPTAIN FOR MYSELF. ALAS THERE HAPPEN TO BE OTHER CAPTAINS OF THE ROYAL GUARD WHO WOULD BE DISPLEASED IF I WERE TO USE SUCH NAME," her father chuckled. 

Chara hummed at that. "How about Red and Gold?"

"RED IS ALREADY TAKEN. I SUPPOSE THAT PAPYRUS MAY USE GOLD."

Papyrus, however, fervently shook his name at the suggestion. 

"Yellow?"

A pause. And then another shake. 

"How simple or complicated should these nicknames be, anyway?" Chara inquired, quirking a brow.

"AS YOU KNOW, THIS UNIVERSE'S SANS IS KNOWN AS COMIC. HIS BROTHER IS CREAMPUFF." Chara couldn't help but snicker. Creampuff? How did he earn a name like that? "THEN THERE ARE SKELETONS NAMED AFTER COLORS, SUCH AS RED, BLACK, BLUE, AND GREEN."

"If nothing else, then there's something that you can fall back on. Purple, orange, gray..."

"NO," wrote Papyrus. 

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR AVERSION TO BEING CALLED BY A COLOR."

Papyrus lifted his notepad again.

"What other names are there?" Chara wanted to know.

"STRETCH, EDGE, RAZZ, AXE, G."

"Those names are, uh, kind of random. We could probably call you X and Y, and no one would question it." After receiving unimpressed looks from the skeletons, Chara amended with, "Then how about Wine and Coffee?"

"ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY SOMETHING, CHARA?"

"No, of course not!" She sort of was. "I just thought that being referred to as by your favorite drink would be preferable to...whatever." She turned to Papyrus. "What do you think?"

Papyrus gave her a thumbs-up.

"DON'T BE RIDICULOUS," her father scoffed. "THERE IS NO WAY WE WILL BE ADDRESSED THAT WAY."

At the end of the day, they introduced themselves as Wine and Coffee to the other skeletons. 

Chapter 2: Day 2: Breakfast

Chara woke up to the sound of pounding. 

No, not pounding. Just very "serious" knocking done by her father. 

Chara peeled her eyes open, welcomed by the sight of sunlight filtering through the curtains, pouring into the room in white streams. She took a moment to remember why the room was unfamiliar, then sat up groggily. 

That was right. Her family and she had suddenly been transported to another dimension yesterday. 

"CHARA, YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO GET READY," her father called from the other side of the door. 

"Okay!" she called back. Chara rolled out of bed and held still when her head began to swim. She either had slept too much or had slept too little. While her father always wanted her to wake up at seven hundred, he probably had woken her up in accordance to when breakfast would start. With a handful of military personnel here, the time could be earlier; on the other hand, Chara got the impression that there were more civilians here, which could mean later. 

She padded into the bathroom, turned on the light, and received an eyeful of her bed hair. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to find a brush anywhere last night, so she would have to resort to finger-combing. Despite the ruffled image that she still had going on, this was going to be good as it was going to get. She washed her teeth and face, then headed back to the bedroom. 

Inside the closet, there was a shelf elevated up to her naval, and sitting on it was her apparel of the day. She unfolded it and laid it flat on the bed. A gray T-shirt and a pair of black basketball shorts. Given the style and size, these must belong to Comic. After taking off her sleepwear consisting of only one shirt belonging to a Papyrus, she slipped on the clothes. 

Years of wearing dresses, skirts, and blouses, Chara had forgotten what it was like to wear something "pedestrian", as her father liked to call it. He would even make the occasional quip to Papyrus, whose to-go outfit was a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. 

A quick mirror check later, she left her room, closing the door behind her softly. Her father and uncle were waiting for her nearby. When he saw her, her father huffed with disdain. "GOOD THING THAT WE WILL BE SHOPPING TODAY," he said wryly.

"You have money with you?" she asked. They meandered through the corridors, letting Papyrus take the lead. She was getting better memorizing the way after dinner last night, having to walk out of and back into the bedroom hall. Although, how she could remember that and not had gone down during dinner was beyond her. 

She had been rather drained while being served spaghetti—or was it lasagna?—that she scarcely recalled the faces of the skeletons sitting around her. Had she engaged in chit-chat with any of them? Or had she sat there in silence, mechanically moving her arm to insert food into her mouth? The latter seemed likely. Chara couldn't imagine being a pleasant conversation partner when tired. 

"YES. NOT A LOT, MIND YOU, BUT ENOUGH TO PURCHASE OUR CLOTHES AND OTHER NECESSITIES," her father said. By enough, he must mean the couple thousand gold sitting in his dimension box. He also had a card for human transactions, but it wasn't like he could access his account with where they were. 

They descended the stairs and to the dining room. The space was expansive with a long table that stretched down from the entrance to the other end of the room. At the end of the room was a swinging door that led to where Chara believed to be the kitchen. 

As though having been summoned by her thoughts, a Papyrus burst through the door, carrying a pot full of scrambled eggs. Like her father, his mandible and maxilla were curved upwards, fixed as a permanent grin. However, instead of appearing in a perpetual state of smug or menacing, he looked jovial, complemented by the brightness of his eyelights and the cheerfulness that he exuded. He certainly wasn't like her Papyrus, especially with that apron that he proudly wore that read "I'M SIZZLING HOT".

"HELLO, THERE!" the Papyrus greeted them enthusiastically. "GOOD MORNING! YOU THREE ARE UP EARLY."

"INDEED." Her father made a show of looking around the empty room. "DO YOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE?"

"EDGE, GREEN, AND I GOT THE FOOD, BUT IF YOU WANT TO HELP..." His sockets narrowed in thought. "AH, YOU CAN HELP SET THE TABLE! WE'D APPRECIATE THAT!"

"CERTAINLY." As her father strode forward into the kitchen, Papyrus and Chara quickly followed suit. Inside, there was an island with a reflective steel surface at the center. Two large fridges were on one side, and stoves and ovens on the other. There were a few sinks where another Papyrus busied himself at. What a large kitchen.

A third Papyrus—goodness gracious, so many Papyruses—floated towards the island to deposit a batch of pancakes. This one nearly gave her a jump for the similarities that he shared with her father—sharp features, cracks running down one socket, and red eyelights. He, for his part, did a little jolt upon seeing her. 

"WHA—! CREAMPUFF!" the Papyrus bellowed, spinning around to face the friendly Papyrus. "WHAT IS THE HUMAN DOING HERE?"

"SHE AND HER FAMILY ARE HERE TO HELP!" the friendly Papyrus—Creampuff—replied, blithely oblivious to the displeasure emanating from the other skeleton. 

"HELP? WE DON'T NEED HELP FROM THIS HUMAN. SHE'D SOONER CAUSE A MESS THAN BE OF USE."

Chara felt Papyrus coil his hands around her upper arm, tucking himself against her side. He never did like confrontation, particularly ones where his family was involved. 

"Now, now, let's not jump to conclusions." The Papyrus at the sink turned around and dried his hands with a small towel. While he was taller than any of his alternates here, there was nothing intimidating about him. His gaze settled on the group like a warm blanket—welcoming and patient and kind. When he stepped forward, Chara recognized him as the gentleman from yesterday. 

She didn't know why she hadn't noticed before, but there were cracks on his face: one running from the top of his skull to his socket, and the other one running down from his other socket to his jawline. The fractures seemed out of place for someone with a cultured demeanor. Did he moonlight as a brawler at an illegal ring or something?

"YES, EDGE," agreed Creampuff. "BESIDES, THEY'RE HERE TO SET UP THE TABLES FOR US."

"FEH." The grouchy Papyrus turned around with a harrumph and marched away. The gentleman was quick to remedy the awkwardness that came in his alternate's absence. 

"I apologize for Edge. From what I know, he is still adjusting to humans even after his Underground's barrier fell. I do believe that, in time, he will come around."

"THAT IS QUITE ALRIGHT," her father said pleasantly, although Chara would bet all her earnings that he wouldn't have said that if not for the gentleman's intervention. There might have been a stifling staring contest and an obnoxious display of one skeleton trying to out-alpha the other. Not that Chara would ever describe her father as obnoxious—he was too refined for the word—but he could certainly turn things around to make the other person look like a dunderhead. 

"Pardon me, where are my manners? I am called Green. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance," the gentleman said. 

"AND I AM THE GREAT CREAMPUFF! NYEH HEH HEH HEH! IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE IF YOU'RE PLEASED TO MAKE MINE," Creampuff said, striking a pose. A funny guy, this one.

"MY FAMILY AND I ARE PLEASED TO MEET YOU AS WELL." Since her father didn't formally introduce them, Chara could only assume that had already been done yesterday at dinner. 

"AH, I WAS WONDERING ABOUT THAT!" Creampuff bounced closer to Chara, causing Papyrus to tighten his grip on her. When Creampuff leaned down, she got a full view of his sunny face. "I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WOULD PREFER TO BE IN RELATION TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS—FOR ANY PAPYRUS IS INDEED GREAT!" He struck another pose. "BUT I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT ALL CHARAS ARE ADOPTED BY THE ROYAL FAMILY LIKE HOW ALL FRISKS ARE."

"Um..." Chara glanced at her father for help. 

"I'M AFRAID THAT IS A STORY FOR ANOTHER TIME," her father interjected calmly. "FIRST, WE MUST GO SET UP THE TABLE, YES?"

"OH, YES, OF COURSE!" Creampuff pulled back, and Papyrus eased his grip on her. "I'LL LET YOU GET RIGHT TO IT!"

As Creampuff, Edge, and Green finished making the rest of the breakfast, her father and Papyrus brought the food out while Chara set the plates and utensils. There were seventeen people, including her father and her uncle and herself, which was quite a lot. 

They already had a lot of people to feed, and having an additional three people must have been pushing the limit. She could imagine that the strain this household had on its expenses. Chara could have felt remorse for being an inconvenience, but could there be anyone to blame? After all, just as much as the malfunction hadn't been Comic's fault, their arrival hadn't been theirs. 

She did have to wonder where their income was coming from, however. Did everyone take up jobs? If so, then perhaps she ought to take one as well (after her father would deem it safe for her to do so). Even if Comic and his brother were willing to provide for them, lodging and food, she didn't feel right with doing nothing in return. And she knew with certainty that her father felt the same way, if not more strongly. 

But as for what Papyrus's stance on this? She didn't know. Her father was someone who gave rather than take. Papyrus was someone who took what he could and would try to stay afloat with what he had. Out of the three of them, he wouldn't be so against offering nothing, but he wouldn't complain if his brother asked him to do something. 

When everything was set, the residents began to trickle in. There were some who dragged themselves in, their gait sluggish and slow, and there were some who entered with a slight bounce in their step. It was easy to differentiate who had to crawl out of bed versus who had gone for an early morning run. 

Chara claimed a seat at the end of the table with Papyrus sitting on her left and her father on her right. Green, who had struck an easygoing yet engrossing conversation with her father, sat next to him, collecting his attention once again. Interested, Chara kept an ear out, only to hear words like "partisan parties" and "professional experience" and "real estate." Her interest died. 

There was a low murmur of discussions taking place, the room still quiet from the lull of the morning. She felt curious eyes dart in her direction, and she ducked her head when she noticed Mutt waltz in. Papyrus, with his long arms, scooped food onto her plate for her without having to strain himself across the table. 

"Thank you," she said. Chara took the napkin folded beneath her utensils, placed it over her lap, and began to eat. She hadn't noticed that there were two new skeletons occupying the seats across from hers until she lifted her head.

Sitting before her was a Papyrus. Like Green, he was incredibly tall—taller, even. And, like Green, he looked approachable with his wide-framed glasses (held on by tape), braces, and sweater pulled over a button-up shirt. At this close, she could see that his sockets were strangely small, but that didn't detract how much she liked his nerdy assemble. 

Next to him was a Sans, albeit he was rather large for one. In contrast to the Papyrus with his charming appearance, this Sans looked as though he had stepped out of a horror movie. There was a gaping hole in the upper part of his temple. A large red eye glowed eerily from the depths of his socket while the other socket remained vacant. Like her father, only...there was something about his absent eyelight that told her that he hadn't lost it in a duel, per se. 

The nerdy skeleton beamed at her. "HI, I'M SUGAR!"

Chara smiled back. Sugar? He was doubly adorable! "Hello."

"AND THIS IS MY BROTHER."

"Spice?" she guessed.

The Sans gave a deep rumbly chuckle. "nah, although i'm plenty flavorful. i'm axe. nice ta eat ya."

Papyrus stiffened next to her. Chara grabbed his hand underneath the table and gave a comforting squeeze. With the way that this Sans was baring his notably sharp teeth, it certainly did look like he partook in living flesh. Not that she actually believed it. She didn't know this skeleton, after all.

Chara tilted her head. Was he taking advantage of his appearance to make that joke? And...did he just make a pun while at it? Didn't Comic make a pun yesterday too?

"BROTHER, THAT ISN'T FUNNY!" groaned Sugar. "DON'T TORMENT OUR NEW HOUSEMATES WITH YOUR PUNS."

"sorry, paps. i just wanted to welcome the newbies to our humble abode."

"WELL, YOU CAN DO SO WITHOUT THE PUNS."

"you got it. instead, we should toast to our new pals," Axe said, lifting a piece of toast.

"IT'S TOO EARLY FOR THIS," Sugar despaired.

Chara stared blankly at them.

Axe dropped his toast on his plate. "what? nothing, kid?"

"Oh, um." She cleared her throat. "Excuse me. My name is Chara Gaster, and this here is my uncle, Papyrus. You may know him as Coffee during our stay here. We're both happy to meet you."

"that's...not what i—"

"WE'RE HAPPY TO MEET YOU TOO," Sugar chirped, verbally bulldozing his brother. "WOWIE! IT'S WEIRD HEARING THAT—CHARA GASTER. NORMALLY, IT'D BE CHARA DREEMUR."

"I have heard something about Charas being adopted by the royal family," she said, remembering what Creampuff had told her. She nibbled on her pancake, swallowed, and asked, "Is it really that weird?"

"DEFINITELY! BUT IT'S NOT A BAD THING IN THE SLIGHTEST!" Sugar added in haste. "HAVING THE NOT-PRINCESS BECOME A PART OF THE FAMILY, EVEN IF NOT IN OUR ACTUAL FAMILY BUT IN ANOTHER-VERSION-OF-US'S FAMILY, IS AN HONOR! IT KIND OF MAKES US NOT-ROYALTY, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT."

Chara and Papyrus exchanged looks. He shrugged. 

"THE WEIRD PART IS SANS BEING A FATHER." Sugar chewed around his fork. "THAT'S SOMETHING THAT I CAN'T EVER SEE HAPPENING."

"ah, bro, you sayin' that i'm not a catch? that cereal-sy tears my heart."

"IT'S ONLY BECAUSE OF YOUR BOONDOGGLING THAT PREVENTS YOU FROM GETTING A DATEMATE! NOT TO MENTION YOUR AWFUL PUNS!"

"My father adopted me without having a spouse," Chara said.  

"THAT—" Sugar paused, and Axe gave her a look. "YOUR FATHER DOESN'T SEEM LIKE ONE TO BOONDOGGLE."

Her brows furrowed. "No, of course not. He's the captain of the Royal Guard and he takes his job very seriously. He's the least boondoggling person that I know."

"which is why i don't cut it for fatherhood. i boondoggle all day," Axe said.

"DON'T USE MY WORDS AS AN EXCUSE, SANS!" Sugar chided. 

"If you deem him to be irresponsible, then perhaps fatherhood is ill-suited for him. But I have heard stories about unlikely fathers becoming the best fathers when given the opportunity. If Axe is in a position where a child is wholly dependent on him, then that might force him to clean up his act," Chara mused. 

She hadn't intended on making a point; she was just speaking her thoughts aloud. Yet Axe made a choking sound and proceeded to beat a fist to his chest. "k-kid, you shouldn't go around saying things like that."

Her eyes widened when she saw his slightly horrified expression. "I don't mean just go and adopt a child just so that your lifestyle changes. Having a child is, well..."

"IT'S A COMMITMENT THAT WEIGHS HEAVILY ON YOU EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY," her father supplied, unexpectedly intervening. Everyone blinked at him in surprise. "I LOVE MY DAUGHTER AND AM FOREVER GRATEFUL FOR HAVING HER IN MY LIFE, BUT THERE IS NO POINT IN PREVARICATING THAT RAISING HER HAS BEEN QUITE TAXING," he said, smiling at her teasingly.

Chara blushed. "I wasn't that bad!" If anything, she liked to think that she had been the ideal child—polite and obedient.

"DON'T YOU MEAN YOU STILL AREN'T?"

"What? Dad, come on."

Her father chuckled. "ANYWAY, YOUR LIFE WILL BE IRREVOCABLY ALTERED. BEING A PARENT WILL BE THE BEST THING THAT YOU CAN EVER HOPE FOR, AND IT WILL BE THE BIGGEST RESPONSIBILITY THAT YOU'LL EVER BEAR. I MAY THE HEAD OF MONSTER SECURITY, YET THERE IS NO GREATER DUTY THAN TAKING CARE OF CHARA."

Axe, who had been grinning and joking not so long ago, was now sweating. He shifted in his chair, his discomfort obvious. "yeah, that's still daunting," he said. "never gonna do it."

Sugar, however, was enraptured. 

"HOW DID YOU COME TO LOVE YOUR DAUGHTER SO MUCH?" he asked in awe. 

"I MUST ADMIT," her father began with a warm smile, "COMING TO CARE ABOUT HER WASN'T A PROCESS THAT TOOK LONG. AN UNCONDITIONAL LOVE STARTS TO FORM WHEN YOU CARE SOMEONE WITHOUT EXPECTING ANYTHING FROM THEM, AND THAT HAPPENED THE FIRST FEW DAYS THAT I GOT TO KNOW HER." He then perked up. "I HAVE PHOTOS. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?"

"OH BOY! WOULD I?" Sugar gasped excitedly.

Chara felt the onset of her mortification. Despite being the tough and scary captain, her father was one of those parents who would show their love for their children in the most embarrassing way possible, especially whenever he would feel sentimental about something. 

When she had been in middle school, her father had attended her softball game decked in her school colors while waving a foam finger, intermittently hollering out her name even when she would be sitting on the bench, just bench-warming.

When they had gone to the carnival, her father had insisted on winning her an enormous stuffed bear that had caught her eye, and he had played the game for an hour straight until he had finally won. He had pissed off so many people that day.

A week ago, he had merrily talked a woman's ear off about how moody Chara had been when she had entered adolescence, commiserating with her about her own wayward son. No one wanted to be reminded just how much of an edgy teen they had been, and having a stranger hear about it was the worst.

Her mortification escalated when she saw her father dig through his pocket and pull out his wallet (oh no, he had meant those photos), and it peaked when she noticed that the skeletons nearby were looking at them with intrigue.

Her father opened his wallet, and a long string of photos fell out like a loose accordion. Chara covered her face with her hands. She couldn't bear to watch.

"THAT'S CHARA WHEN SHE WAS ELEVEN. IT WAS HALLOWEEN AND SHE INSISTED ON DRESSING UP AS A CAT."

"AWW! SHE LOOKED ADORABLE!" Sugar cooed. 

"YES, SHE CERTAINLY WAS, BUT HER LITTLE ACT OF DEFIANCE WASN'T. DO YOU SEE THAT POUT? SHE WAS UPSET WITH ME WHEN I TOLD HER THAT WE COULDN'T ADOPT THE STRAY CAT THAT USED TO PASS THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD. TO MAKE A STATEMENT ABOUT HOW WE COULD KEEP A CAT, SHE DECIDED TO BE A CAT."

"OOH, HOW ABOUT THIS ONE?"

"THAT'S CHARA WHEN SHE WAS FOURTEEN. SHE HAD THE MOST PECULIAR CINNAMON BUNNY CRAVING AT THE TIME THAT SHE WOULD SNEAK OUT OF HER ROOM AT THE ODD HOURS OF THE NIGHT JUST TO STUFF HER FACE. YOU'D THINK THAT HER CHOCOLATE OBSESSION WOULD BE CONCERNING, BUT, NO, IT WAS THOSE CINNAMON BUNNIES. THAT'S HER WHEN SHE WAS CAUGHT IN THE ACT."

There was giggling and chuckling around them. Axe joked about her looking like a gremlin that everyone was warned not to feed at midnight, which caused some of the skeletons to bark into laughter. Chara slumped into her seat. 

"AND THIS ONE?" Sugar inquired.

"THAT'S CHARA A MONTH AGO. SHE'S PROCRASTINATING INSTEAD OF DOING HER CHORES. SHE MADE THE EXCUSE OF TAKING A BREAK, BUT HER BREAK CURIOUSLY WENT ON FOR TWO HOURS."

Chara blinked. He had a photo like that? But then that must mean...

She lowered her hands and looked up. Rather than look at the third picture, Sugar had his eyelights fixed on the very last, the tail of the album resting on the table. The skeleton on his left was peering over his shoulder, hand pressed against his teeth as though that could muffle his snickers.

The photo was the most recent one, with her haphazardly sprawled on the couch. Her neck was curled in a way that she formed a double-chin, and there was a bag of chips sitting on her stomach. She looked like an idol of laziness, which contrasted with her collared dress.

Chara gawked. "Dad! Why do you have this?" she nearly shrieked, scandalized that something like this would even see the light of day. 

Her father huffed. "IF YOU DID YOUR CHORES LIKE HOW I ASKED YOU FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME, THEN I WOULDN'T HAVE ANOTHER PICTURE TO ADD TO MY COLLECTION."

"Dad, it's just the second day. You couldn't have waited for, I don't know, a week until you decide to humiliate me in front of everyone?" she groaned, exasperated.

"i don't know, princess. i'd say that it's a good look on ya," the snickering skeleton drawled. He was another Papyrus, but with a shifty gleam in his sockets that made Chara want to scoot away. He smirked at her. "makes ya look cute."

How on earth was slovenly supposed to be cute?

"I would say that you don't look bad at all," Green said, leaning forward so that he could give her an amused yet kind smile. "It's a goofy side of you that makes you more personable."

What, she wasn't personable to begin with? Well, maybe not. She had seen how some of the skeletons seemed wary of her presence, whether that was because she was a human or that she was a Chara. She sighed, aggrieved. "I rather be personable in a non-goofy way."

Green chuckled. "I'm afraid that won't do. We're a cast of goofs, you see."

"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF," her father retorted.

"You showing your collection is proof enough of how goofy you are," Chara deadpanned.

"DON'T SASS ME, YOUNG LADY. I WILL GO INTO DETAIL ABOUT YOUR CINNAMON BUNNY DAYS IF I HAVE TO."

"yanno, if embarrassing yer kid is part of the parenting thing, then it can't be so bad," Axe chortled. 

"I'D SAY IT'S THE REWARD, BUT SOMETIMES IT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE PUNISHMENT."

"Punishment?" Chara repeated incredulously. "Was it punishment when you had that shouting match with that old lady at the fabric store? And over who got to have the last flower buttons no less? Because that was plenty embarrassing. Or how about that time when you blew up in front of that poor guy when you mistakenly thought that he was hitting on me instead of asking for directions?"

"seems like she got dirt on you too, wine," the snickering skeleton laughed.

"HM. I SEE THAT WE'RE AT AN IMPASSE, THEN," her father said coolly, leveling his gaze with hers.

"So that we are," Chara returned stoically.

"i'll hold off for a week if you hold off at your end?"

"You got yourself a deal."

Both father and daughter shook on it.

Then, with a tired sigh, Chara turned to Papyrus and asked, "Could you pass me the salt?"

Chapter 3: Day 2: After Breakfast

After breakfast, Chara helped clear away the dishes. Green had told her that her assistance wasn't necessary, but she had insisted. Even after being subjugated to another of her father's cringey antics, she wasn't so mortified that she felt compelled to rush out of the dining room and sulk in her room. She had thicker skin than that. That...and she was way too old to throw a tantrum.

And while Chara would have greatly preferred not to have a repeat of today's breakfast, she had to admit that the pictures had been an excellent icebreaker. She might have begun to form an amiable acquaintanceship with Sugar and Axe, but didn't mean that the other skeletons would have been swayed by her good manners. Or, well, however polite she had been. 

Had she been impolite towards Axe when she had talked about fatherhood? She recalled how uncomfortable he had been, and, with sinking contrition, she realized that she had never apologized to him about it. Chara ought to remedy that soon; that would be the courteous thing to do, after all. 

There was a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Papyrus handing her a pot. "Thank you," Chara said with a smile.

Since her father had to talk to Comic about leaving the building, Papyrus was the only one who could watch her. And because Chara had wanted help clean up, he had been dragged into doing the same.

Not that he minded, she thought. Papyrus was easygoing like that.

She carried the pot to the sink where Green was elbow-deep in soapy water and suds. She looked around curiously, only to find that there was no one else here but her and the gentleman.

"Is there anyone else who can help you?" she asked.

"No, I normally do the dishes myself," he said, smiling down at her. "I don't mind, though. I find cleaning to be an enjoyable activity."

She couldn't help but scrunch her nose. Green chuckled at her expression.

"Although, I reckon that you feel otherwise, what with that picture that your father showed us."

Chara scowled as her cheeks became warm. "Please don't bring that up," she groused. "I didn't expect my dignity to be shattered so soon. I was hoping to maintain a clean image; instead, I had everyone laugh at me."

"My dear, no one was laughing at you!" At Chara's pointed look, he conceded, "Alright, yes... They were, but not for malicious reasons, I assure you. They're endeared to you because of the silliness. I'd say that it's a good thing!"

Green had said that before—that she was endearing. "Well, they better not expect any more silliness from me. Those moments occur few and far between," she asserted. Green just gave her an indulgent look.

"I don't suppose that you would elucidate to me on your cinnamon bunny days, would you?"

Chara elbowed him, earning a laugh from the tall skeleton.

When all the dishes had been washed and dried, Chara and Papyrus left the kitchen to head upstairs. They didn't get that far into the foyer when a Sans sprinted towards them. Papyrus quietly gasped and clung onto the back of her shirt.

"HUMAN!" the Sans shouted, skidding right in front of them. His grin was so wide that it stretched from cheekbone to cheekbone, and his eyelights were bright blue stars. Chara's breath was caught in her throat. She had thought that the red outline of a star burning in her father's socket was striking, but it was admittedly nothing compared to the luminescent pair that belonged to this Sans. They were captivating to behold. "I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO SPEAK WITH YOU!"

Chara jolted. "Oh, um, hello...?"

"MY NAME IS SANS, BUT YOU MAY ADDRESS ME AS THE MAGNIFICENT BLUE! I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT GREETING YOU IN PERSON THE OTHER DAY. I HAD SO MUCH TO DO, SO I COULDN'T STOP TO STICK AROUND. BUT NOW THAT I'M FREE, HERE I AM!"

"Ah, yes, thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I appreciate it." She smiled. "As you might already know, I'm Chara Gaster, and this is my uncle, Coffee. We're happy to meet you."

"MWEH HEH HEH!" Blue proudly placed his hands on his hips. "NATURALLY, YOU WOULD BE. TO COMMEMORATE THIS DAY, WE MUST GO CELEBRATE WITH PUZZLES!"

"Puzzles?"

"YES, PUZZLES! IF YOU'RE ANYTHING LIKE MY CHARA, THEN YOU MUST BE A FELLOW PUZZLE ENTHUSIAST!"

So, he belonged to a universe where his human friend was a Chara. She wondered if the skeletons who weren't so hesitant about approaching her had Charas instead of Frisks. Then again, Green mentioned that Creampuff was Comic's brother, and Comic had a Frisk. This could be a matter of personality, seeing how open and friendly Creampuff had been towards her. 

"As much as I would love to, we must get going," she told him ruefully. "We're planning to go shopping, you see."

"OH." Blue wilted, but he bounced back a second later. "NO WORRIES, HUMAN. WE CAN GET TO THE PUZZLES UPON YOUR RETURN. UNTIL THEN, I WILL BE CREATING MORE PUZZLES FOR YOU TO SOLVE!"

He reminded Chara of Undyne's enthusiasm for her mechanical creations, but without the mania. His starry eyelights glowed brighter with his mounting zeal, and Chara couldn't help let her smile grow bigger.

"Then I will endeavor to hurry back as soon as I can," she promised. "I'm sure that you'll have wonderful puzzles waiting for me."

"MWEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE!"

"And if you don't mind, may my uncle participate as well. He's a puzzle master himself."

At that, a dusky yellow colored Papyrus's face. He pulled the tip of his over his eyes and discretely pinched Chara's side. Ouch.

"A PUZZLE MASTER, YOU SAY? I CAN'T TURN DOWN COMPETITION!"

After bidding their farewells, Chara and Papyrus climbed upstairs and made the long trek to their hall. In the meantime, Papyrus shot her a mildly disgruntled glare. Chara looked back, surprised.

"Was I not to include you? I thought that you would enjoy yourself solving puzzles," she said.

He sighed. "y-you know i don't like b-being around others," he whispered to her. 

"But we have to stay together, don't we? Unless you're suggesting that Dad should tag along in your stead?" They both knew the answer to that. Whatever her father would be doing, he would be too preoccupied to play games.

Papyrus sent her a flat stare. "he's the puzzle master, not me."

"But you play those video games that contain puzzles, and those puzzles are nothing to scoff at." She would know; she had tried playing one of them and couldn't get past the second level. In the end, she had been content in watching Papyrus take charge of the controls. He had flown through the complicated obstacles that had obfuscated her with astounding efficiency. "While Dad uses puzzles for tactical reasons, you're a troubleshooting genius."

He still appeared skeptical.

"Surely you can make an exception just this once? I know that real life and video games are drastically different, but, in a way, this could be like a video game. And," she wheeled unabashedly, "I want to show off my favorite uncle in front of all those Sanses and Papyruses of just how much of a genius he is."

"i-i'm your only uncle," Papyrus retorted, but there was a hint of a smile in his voice. 

"If I had any other uncle, you'd still be my favorite."

He rolled his eyelights.

"So?" she pressed.

With a long-suffering sigh, Papyrus scrawled on his notepad. "FINE," it read. 

Chara smirked at her victory. It wasn't easy to get Papyrus moving if he sensed that he had to do any socializing. He could do chores and run errands without complaint, and he would even sacrifice his precious gaming time if Chara or her father required assistance. But getting him to interact with anyone? That was a feat in of itself.

Papyrus probably complied since she would be entertaining Blue and he would have to follow her anyway, albeit it was different since she had pulled him from the sidelines to the metaphorical stage. While Chara had a hunch that Blue could provide an enjoyable experience for Papyrus, she nevertheless prayed that nothing would go gone. 

When they reached the top, they saw a skeleton leaning against the balustrade. He was like a Sans version of Mutt with his fur-trimmed jacket and golden tooth. His eyes were red, making Chara wonder just how many red-eyed skeletons were there. 

The Sans then noticed their presence and leered at them—no, at her. 

Chara never really considered herself to be anything more than average-cute. Cute because of her birth-given apple cheeks that always left her in a constant state of blushing. Whenever she would actually blush, the pink hue would darken to a ruddy red, matching her own vermilion eyes.

But to be the target of attraction? That was new. And...unsettling. She didn't like how this Sans's eyelights lingered on her chest; there was no way that he was checking her stats or soul with how his tongue was lolling out of his mouth. She made her point by folding her arms over her chest.

"aw, don't be like that, dollface," the skeleton crooned. 

Right, haha. Dollface, because of her cheeks. 

"Pardon us," Chara said, smiling politely at him. She and Papyrus took a few steps forward, but the Sans sidestepped in front of them, blocking their way. She looked at him, confused. "Is there something that we may do for you?"

"dunno about tall, dark, and awkward, but i can think of a few things you can do for me," he purred, leaning forward.

She stilled. "I, um, uh—ex-excuse me?" she stuttered, stunned. Was... Was this actually happening? Was she actually being hit on for the first time (that wasn't by Napstaton) in her life? And by her father's alternate? Chara felt a whirlwind of disgusted, flustered, and, horribly enough, intrigued. 

Next to her, Papyrus flailed, too worked up to properly communicate, whether orally or written. Apparently, he was taken aback by the unprecedented flirting just as much as she was. 

"heh. what's wrong, sweetheart? cat got yer tongue?" he chuckled. 

"Uh..." Chara blinked a couple of times. "I... If... Uhhh..." At a loss as to what to do, her brain decided to reboot itself without her say-so. What came out of her mouth was an automated response that she usually gave to anyone who would call her father's office when he was unavailable. "Excuse me, sir, but I'm afraid that we are quite busy at the moment. If you wish to contact again, please try at a later date. Thank you and goodbye."

"what—?"

Papyrus managed to collect himself right on time, grabbing Chara and teleporting them straight into her bedroom. No, wait, this was his bedroom. 

Chara collapsed onto her knees while Papyrus fell onto his rear.

"That could've gone better," she grumbled. 

Suddenly, the door slammed open, causing Chara and Papyrus to scream. 

"I SENSED A DISTURBANCE. WHAT HAPPENED?" demanded her father.

 

---

 

After Chara and Papyrus managed to convince her father that nothing noteworthy had happened (or ought to be mentioned), her father finally yet reluctantly let it go. If it weren't for their to-do list, he might have prodded them for the truth. As it was, they shouldn't keep their host waiting.

Papyrus quickly gathered his belongings from his room and met them back at the foyer. That had been why Chara had followed him back upstairs instead of waiting by the entrance; he was still on babysitting duty, for however long that would take. Although, after their encounter with that flirty Sans, Chara was starting to think that perhaps Mutt wasn't the only skeleton she should keep an eye out for. 

(Was Mutt even a problem to begin with? Perhaps she was overthinking things.)

Meeting them was not only Comic but also another skeleton, this one who Chara couldn't immediately discern whether he was a Sans or a Papyrus. He was taller than Comic, but his frame wasn't bulky like Axe's nor lanky like Papyrus's. He was lean, almost slinky in a way that reminded her of leopards.

His facial scars were identical to Green's, and that was when she noticed that he shared the rounded skull and hooded sockets that all Sanses had, as opposed to the Papyruses' elongated features. 

"hey, the fam's all here," the Sans said. 

"CHARA, PAPYRUS, WE RECEIVED APPROVAL FOR AN EXCURSION TO THE OUTSIDE," her father said. "HOWEVER, TO THEM, WE ARE STRANGERS WITH UNKNOWN MOTIVES, IN WHICH THEY MUST REQUIRE TO KEEP US UNDER THEIR WATCH." That made sense, and it made sense to her father too. Otherwise, he would be bearing a tight grin that would promise certain death (among other things). "THAT IS WHY WE WILL BE CHAPERONED BY G."

G smirked at them and wiggled his fingers in greeting. "hey."

"WHO WON'T BE MAKING ANY ADVANCES ON MY DAUGHTER," her father added, fixing G a stern look. 

"whoa, man, chill. i know better than to hit on a lady when her pop's around."

"WHEN I'M AROUND?"

"might as well quit while you're ahead, buddy," Comic sniggered.

"i didn't even get started," G grumbled. 

"doncha mean father-ed?"

"jeez, comic, did you papa-red that one?"

"AHEM."

Chara felt so confused. What was up with these Sans and puns?

"right. down to business then. so, g'll be taking you to the mall. normally, i'd have someone more, eh, tame take you—"

G snorted.

"—but stretch is busy and so am i, and g's the only one free who's willing to do this. so." Sans shrugged. 

"NEVERTHELESS, WE THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DO THIS."

"Yes, thank you," Chara said, smiling gratefully at G. 

G returned her smile as he propped one hand on his waist and the other at the back of his head. "aw, shucks, angel. it's nothing—"

"AHEM."

"what? i wasn't doing anything!"

Papyrus placed a hand on Chara's elbow and gave her a tired look. Chara patted his hand in commiseration. They had just finished breakfast and already was today turning out to be quite eventful. 

Chapter 4: Day 2: Shopping

After being thrown into another universe, it had taken all of Sans's willpower to not break his calm veneer. 

He supposed that he had been losing his touch. Decades of service to a volatile queen, decades of navigating through treacherous court affairs—all thrown away after a handful of years on the surface, living an idyllic life as a father to a human child. Sans's once sharp mind had grown dull from the peaceful monotony, and now he was thrown out of his element.  

He didn't know what to do. He didn't know just how safe he and his family were, especially when in the hands of his—his other selves. His brother's selves. Oh, by the stars above, they were in another universe. They were stuck in a house occupied by several versions of Sanses and Papyruses, none of which were similar to either of them.

He couldn't ascertain their motives yet nor could he trust that they wouldn't take advantage of their vulnerable state. He at least could believe what Comic had informed him on the first day, but he was skeptical that had been all he had been willing to divulge. What was worse was that he had seen the way those duplicates had looked at his daughter. 

Like she was a ticking time bomb. Like she was a piece of meat for them to chew on. 

Sans thought that he was quite impressive for maintaining the last vestiges of his composure. Otherwise, he would have summoned his blasters and gunned them all down. 

There were more things to fret about, such as his land and business back home. He was at least comforted that he had thought beforehand of providing information to his subordinates in case emergencies were to occur, but there was another thing to consider—the deadline. Did time pass by at the same rate here as it did there? Because if they were to be stuck here for an indeterminable amount of time, then Sans ought to consider creating an insurance to compensate for his to-be seized assets. 

Papyrus and Chara, on the other hand, weren't so concerned. 

Sans reckoned that could be a testament of how capable he was in providing and protecting them. Granted, perhaps he had sheltered them to the point of coddling, depriving them of any sense of independence. Not that Sans minded; he did intend on caring for them for the remainder of their days, after all. 

In any case, Papyrus trusted him enough to not fall into a panic. Chara, likewise, must have felt the same way; although, that girl was quite adaptable in any given situation. She had managed to trek across the Underground by herself (and with that sentient doll) no matter how dangerous the journey had been. 

(Sans felt his guilt swell within him when he thought about how he had callously let her go on her own. He hadn't loved her at the time, but that was no way of pardoning him for what he had done...)

Chara was adaptable. Chara was strong. Sans didn't trust the other skeletons to not do something towards her, though. 

And as much as he wanted to trust that Chara could take care of herself and ward off any undesired advances, Sans...couldn't. Despite being an adult, she had grown rather careless, enabled by that deplorable prince, no doubt. 

As it was, according to Papyrus's report (on a ripped notepad sheet), a Sans had exhibited lewd interests towards her, and Chara had frozen like a deer in headlights. 

The paper burned to ash in his hand. 

G sniffed the air. "does anyone smell that? it smells like fire."

"MUST BE THE GAS LEAKING OUT OF THIS CONTRAPTION," Sans replied. 

Chara shot him an amused look. "Contraption? No need to show your age, old timer," she whispered to him.

"CHARA, PLEASE, I'M NOT THAT OLD."

She giggled. "I know." Chara then turned her attention to the rusted automobile deathtrap. "So, you'll be driving us to the mall?" she inquired their chaperone.

"you got it, babe" G said, giving her a wink. "teleporting there would've been a cinch, but neither your dad nor uncle have been there before."

"And you can't teleport to a place that you don't know," Chara punctuated knowingly. 

"i see you know your skeletons well."

Was that a hint of flirtation in his tone? "AS MY DAUGHTER, I ENSURED THAT SHE RECEIVED A PROPER EDUCATION," Sans interjected, placing himself between the two. He directed his smile at G. "NATURALLY, SHE WOULD KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT US."

"heh. i can tell that you raised a smart cookie, pops." G grinned back, undaunted. The scamp.

 

---

 

Chara was a little disappointed that she didn't get to converse with G without her father butting in. G seemed like an interesting person to get to know, and she had so many questions to ask him. But the interferences were to be expected, so she wasn't too upset about it. 

What she was upset about was her father's insistence on holding her hand as though she was a child. 

"THINK OF IT AS FOR MY SAKE," her father said. 

Chara resisted rolling her eyes. His sake. Of course. 

When Papyrus grasped her other hand, that was when she knew that was indeed for him and not for her. By the sheer enormity of the indoor mall, it was easy to feel overwhelmed by the place. 

The ceiling was latticed and concave, and the sunlight filtered through the glass and reflected off the beige marble floors. Eyecatching and colorful signs hung above their respective stores. Unidentifiable pop music played in the background, not loud enough to drown their voices but not soft enough to be diminished by the other noises. 

Chara vaguely felt as though she had been transported back to Napstaton's hotel, only...there were some obvious differences to take note of. 

Long ago, after the monsters had emerged from the Underground, Queen Toriel had wanted little to do with humans. Instead of having her people assimilate with the surface dwellers, she had claimed the land surrounding Mount Ebott as her own. The livelihood had evolved into a thriving city called Dreemland, named in honor of the queen. Everything had become better than what had been in the Underground. 

Despite the queen's disdain for humanity, a tentative entente had been established between monsters and humans. Trade deals had been made, ideas had been shared, and the economy had steadily grown. Soon, the monsters had been eager to embrace the technological novelties that the humans had made—the ones not designed with military precedence in mind. 

Cellular phones, the World Wide Web, satellites, toaster ovens—the surface had opened the doors to something new and exciting. Papyrus had become instantly immersed in the realm of video games, and Undyne had been ecstatic to learn about what had seemed like a sci-fi wonderland to her. 

In turn, the humans had been intrigued by Undyne's inventions, especially by her greatest creation, Napstaton. Despite Napstaton being a ghost possessing a mechanical body, Undyne had received high commendations from both monsters and humans alike, and this had eventually set off a collaboration to pioneer a new technological age. 

However, the universe that Chara had left didn't see the peak of its progression in comparison to the universe that she was in now.

Holographic advertisements lit up along the walkway and flashed when transitioning to another promotion. Realistic animatronic monsters and humans posed in front of stores, offering flyers or food samples, which Chara recognized them possessing traits of Undyne's works—at least, the Undyne in this universe. Escalators ran from floor to floor, and there was a large elevator in a transparent, tinted tube in the center of the mall.  

Shoppers passing by had their eyes glued to these sleek handheld devices where the screen altered by a swipe of a thumb. Some of them had small appliances inserted in their ears, which G had informed them of being wireless versions of headsets. There were children who coasted by on these...sideways skateboards powered by electricity. Or so it seemed. Chara honestly didn't know. She was both baffled and amazed by it all.

"Headsets?" she reiterated. 

"yeah. they call 'em earbuds. i don't know too much about them since i have no earholes, but i ear-ed that you have to connect them to the wifi to get them to work," G elaborated. "the less expensive ones do have wires, but you can just plug them into a headphone jack."

Chara had no idea what he had just said. 

"What about those flat things that people carry with them?" she asked. 

"those are phones—"

"No way," Chara blurted.

G grinned. "yes way."

"But..." Her brows knitted together, perplexed. "Wait, did phones become so advanced that people can transmit their thoughts to communicate with one another? Can people use telepathy via machines now?"

G looked at her in similar confusion before his sockets lit up with understanding. He then threw his head back and laughed. "angel, you are adorable!"

"THESE PHONES APPEAR TO HAVE MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS ASIDE FROM MAKING CALLS," her father said, casually observing their surroundings. 

"Oh." Chara blushed at her mistake. 

"hey, don't sweat it. though, gotta say, i'm surprised that a lot of this stuff is foreign to you folks."

"I'M AFRAID THAT WE'RE QUITE AT A DISADVANTAGE IN THIS CASE. YOU SEE, WE HAIL FROM A UNIVERSE WHERE OUR KEENEST MINDS CONTRIBUTED SOLELY TO OUR MILITARY STRENGTH," her father explained. He omitted how the humans themselves hadn't reached the same levels of improvement despite not suffering from the aftermaths of the war. But judging by the sharp smile that he sent to G, Chara could tell that he was making a statement. 

G returned his smile with one that was devoid of the amicable amusement that he had shown her. "welp, looks like you got time to catch up on what you're missing, eh, old man?"

Her father's smile never faltered. "SO IT SEEMS. I DO HOPE THAT A YOUNG LAD SUCH AS YOURSELF WOULD BE KIND ENOUGH TO OFFER ASSISTANCE. CONTRARY TO APPEARANCES, YOU ARE RATHER SAVVY ON THE AREA." 

"anything to help the elderly."

"So," Chara interjected loudly, "how about that clothing store?"

 

---

 

While the monster population had become well-integrated within human society, the common currency used was dollars and coins, not gold. Fortunately, her father had thought of this and had made an exchange with Comic beforehand. 

Chara had been doubtful that she would be able to purchase everything that she needed in a mall of all places, yet, lo and behold, there was a department store among the specialty stores. A big-box store, actually—even better. 

There was something about this universe and its level of overabundance. The mansion was huge, the mall was grand, and the flat phones with interactive screens that could access the online web and host several applications were monumental. It was outrageous by how much these people had and wouldn't bat an eyelash about it. Then again, if Chara had grown up in excess, she might have perceived this as something normal.

After a lengthy search for the right aisle, Chara got her feminine products and five sets of underwear and socks. Of course, the men had elected to wait for her in the electronics section. 

With that over with, they carried on to the next item on their list—clothes. 

This was something that her father had looked forward to since the beginning. Meanwhile, Papyrus stared longingly at the bench nearby, aching to lie down and take a nap, but clothes shopping was something that made Sans Serif Gaster an immovable rock.

Everyone had to get involved because everyone was going to get outfitted according to his approval. Even Papyrus's trademark hoodies and sweatpants had to be color-coordinated and in-style. 

Chara hated shopping with her father, which was why she let him create her wardrobe. 

However, since he was without his sewing machine, Chara had to be subjected to hours of sheer agony. Longer than usual since he had to buy his own clothes. Apparently, her father couldn't bear donning provincial apparel for a day, so he was wearing the same clothes that he had worn since day one. After today, he would be more than eager to divest his used outfit and put on a new one. Until then... 

She and Papyrus traded forlorn glances before sighing in tandem. 

"you two okay?" G asked. 

"Yes. Thank you for asking." From the corner of her periphery, she saw her father march towards a store that displayed mannequins wearing thigh-high leather boots and suede suits behind its windows. "Erm, may I suggest that you take the opportunity to visit shops of your interest?"

"afraid that i can't do that, babe. i gotta keep an eye socket on you guys."

Chara sighed again. "Well, don't say that I didn't warn you."

G raised a brow bone. "that sounds ominous."

"No, just tiresome."

And it certainly was. After the fourth hour, G had collapsed on the loveseat next to her, groaning. Papyrus had been dragged by her father to try on a cashmere sweater. In his excitement, her father had decided to place his trust in G to not do...whatever it was that he had been wary of him doing. No, not forget; her father wasn't one to forget carelessly.

"and i thought edge and black were anal 'bout their clothes," G grumbled, dragging a hand down his face. "this is attire-ing me out. how much longer we got until he's satisfied?"

"It varies. On average, three hours. But since we are all in need of filling our closet, I'm guessing three more hours."

"you're kidding, right?" At Chara's apologetic smile, G groaned again. "what's wrong with what you're wearing now? you look fine to me."

"Papyrus and I don't mind wearing anything simple; although, we do feel bad about having to borrow from others. My father, on the other hand, is adamant that we dress well."

"by well, you mean look like you just stepped out of a victorian novel?"

"You exaggerate," she said with an eyeroll. 

"no, seriously, angel. when we saw you yesterday, we thought we had a princess in our midst. you even speak like it." Then, in a thick accent, he drawled out, "milady, how art thou on this splendid day?"

Chara couldn't help but burst into giggles, her hand hovering over her lips. "I didn't notice that I spoke in such a refined manner," she quipped. 

"angel, i'd say you're re-fine, alright," G replied in a low purr. 

Oh. 

Oh.

Chara's cheeks went ablaze. This skeleton was flirting with her, wasn't he? And unlike the other Sans who had blatantly hit on her with no regard, G was doing it subtly, smoothly that she hadn't known it to be what it was until right now. 

Unless that actually hadn't been all that subtle and smooth, and Chara was way out of her depth about this. Was she going to continue misconstruing these dallying jokes as friendly banter? Was she going to keep being hit on by her father's alternates? What was up with that, anyway? And was she overthinking this? She always did overthink. Perhaps she was making a big deal over nothing.

"chara? you okay?"

"I'm fine!" she breathed out. She forced a smile on her face when she turned her head towards G. G looked skeptical, but he was soon distracted by her father and Papyrus's arrival. 

"well, it's about damn time, old man," G said. Poor Papyrus was the personification of that sentiment, appearing very haggard and stressed. A homebody such as himself was never meant to stay out in the public for this long. 

Her father harrumphed. "WE SHALL MAKE OUR PURCHASE AND THEN TAKE A BREAK AT THE—" disgust flitted across his expression "—FOOD COURT. WE ARE IN DUE FOR LUNCH, I BELIEVE."

"cool," G exhaled, letting his head back onto the backrest. "say, what time is it?" 

Papyrus looked down at his wrist where he wore his watch, then lifted a finger on one hand and five fingers on the other. "Fifteen hundred?" Chara guessed. Papyrus nodded. "Three o'clock."

"it's already three? we missed the lunch rush then."

"YOU SAY IT AS THOUGH THAT IS A BAD THING," her father said.

"for me, it is. i wanted to see how you'd handle the crowd."

By that, he meant to get lost, didn't he?

A meal and a few hours later, Papyrus was practically dead on his feet. G was kind enough to carry him on his back as they made their final rounds in the mall. In the meantime, G and Chara continued to converse with each other while her father perused the racks and grilled the sales assistants. Occasionally, her father would glare over his shoulder where they stood, but he didn't intervene like how he had in the beginning. Maybe he was finally warming up to G?

"i never thought i'd do something like this," G groused as he bounced Papyrus higher onto his back. "whenever my bro and i gotta shop, we'd take a minimum of thirty minutes to do it all. aside from bookstores," he backtracked with a snort. "you can't get pap to budge from those places until he got to check every nook and cranny."

"Who is your brother?" Chara wondered.

"you know him as green. i saw you talking to him this morning."

"Oh, Green!" She probably should have figured based on the identical cracks running across his skull, but cracks weren't inheritable as far as she knew. "Yes, I did speak to him. Your brother is very kind."

"that's my bro for you. the nicest guy you'll ever meet." The sincerity in his tone rang clear, making his adoration for his brother obvious. It didn't take long for G to divulge anything about Green, even boasting about his brother's accomplishments and talents as though they were his own. Chara was quite impressed. 

"He can knit as well?" Chara said, delighted by the information. "Do you think he can give me pointers? I've taken knitting as a hobby, but I just can't get any better at it."

"yeah, papyrus will be thrilled. he does other things too, like crocheting and cross-stitching and whatever you grannies do."

Chara chuckled. "I wouldn't be a proper Victorian lady if I didn't partake in granny-like activities."

"i wouldn't mind seeing how you're like when you're improper," G replied, the words leaving his mouth heavy and suggestive.

Ah, the flirting again. Chara's eyes reflexively darted away, unable to handle the skeleton's lidded stare. After spending time with him, she was getting a good idea of just what kind of person G was. His coquettish deliverances came naturally to him as did his puns. Chara still didn't know what to make out of the punning, but she decided that she didn't dislike the wordplays. The flirting, however, remained unknown. 

Apparently, G didn't feel any reservations about his comments, mainly because he didn't view himself to be the same as her father. He was his own person, different from all the Sanses just as much as each Sans was his own individual—that was what G had asserted to her. 

While Chara understood that reasoning, she still couldn't relinquish the thought that he was her family in a way. Not that she viewed G as a father-figure. Having to talk to G was like...she had traveled back in time and was getting to know her father's younger self. That or G was like a distant cousin of sorts.

At the same time, though, there was nothing "family" about him. G was so different compared to her father and Papyrus that Chara couldn't get the sense of familial affection for him despite her mind insisting that she ought to. 

"did you know that your cheeks go from pink to red when you're embarrassed?" G teased. 

Yes, she was well-aware. She had heard plenty of remarks about her being a human traffic light from everyone, thank you very much. "Maybe if you refrained from your joshing, then I wouldn't be so flustered," she said, a little petulant about his comment. 

"aw, angel, don't be mad. i think they're real cute like you."

"YES, MY DAUGHTER IS VERY CUTE." Her father materialized behind them, startling them with his sudden presence. G nearly dropped Papyrus when he jolted. Her father's eyelight drifted past the other skeleton and stopped on her. Chara winced. There was something about his expression that read how disappointed he was about her engaging with G. He often bore that look whenever she and Prince Asriel would spend time together. 

"wine, you done?" G asked, regaining his composure. 

"YES." Her father deposited his shopping bags into his dimension box along with the rest of their items. "NOW THAT WE HAVE ACQUIRED EVERYTHING THAT WE NEED, LET US RETURN."

"finally," the other skeleton sighed, not caring how rude he was being in front of her father. G hadn't cared to begin with, and her father didn't seem to care about it either. 

Yet, despite the friction between them whenever they interacted, her father humbly said, "THANK YOU FOR CARRYING MY BROTHER AND PROVIDING CHARA COMPANY. I AM GRATEFUL FOR THAT."

G was caught off guard. "oh, um, you're welcome. don't worry about it."

"YOU HAVE BEEN HOLDING HIM FOR QUITE SOME TIME. I CAN TAKE OVER."

"sure." G gingerly passed the slumbering Papyrus over to her father, who then cradled him in his arms like a bride. Papyrus's head dropped gently onto her father's shoulder and mumbled nonsensically. He was more like a baby than a bride now. Chara smiled at the sight.

G rolled his shoulders. "since it's gettin' pretty late, we can teleport back so we won't miss dinner. wine, you have your brother, and i got chara."

"But what about the car?" Chara asked.

"i'll pick it up tomorrow. it's parked out in the big lot, so it's not like i'm loitering. so, whaddya say, wine?"

"VERY WELL," her father acquiesced. His pleasant demeanor fell, however, when his visible eyelight flashed dangerously. "BUT JUST KNOW THAT YOU WILL BE TOUCHING A LADY. I WON'T TOLERATE WANDERING HANDS."

"yikes, old man, the message was crystal clear from the start!"

True to his word, G held only Chara's hand while keeping a respectable distance. It was a little strange feeling another skeleton's hand, especially one with a perfectly circular hole in the plane that held the metacarpals together.  

Then, in a flash, the world blurred before returning to clarity. Teleporting was no longer disorienting for Chara despite her preferring other methods of transportation. After rapidly blinking and adjusting to the abrupt shift in lights, Chara found herself back in the mansion. 

"PAPYRUS, WAKE UP," she heard her father say. He gently set his brother back onto his feet, who swayed and leaned heavily onto her father. With a good-natured huff, her father tried again to rouse the taller skeleton.

"well, we're here," G said. "you can let go now."

"Oh!" Chara released her grip. "Sorry about that."

"nah, you're all good. i don't mind holding a pretty lady's hand for longer."

Her? A pretty lady? Chara self-consciously tucked a strand behind her ear. "You're too kind."

"heh. we should get going. we don't want the others to eat our share, do we?" G executed a bow. "milady."

 

---

 

"so, what do you think?"

"she seems harmless enough," G said. "well-mannered, sheltered. she's pretty obedient to whatever wine tells her to do, which is weird considerin' that she's already an adult."

"hm." Stretch didn't give away anything as he reclined in his seat, a cigarette dangling from the edge of his teeth. 

"still think that she's dangerous?" Sans asked. 

"you know as well as i do that she has the capacity to be dangerous, comic," Stretch replied. 

Sans did. Whether the eighth fallen human would be a Chara or a Frisk, those who had worked on the machine in their respective worlds had been bestowed with visions of possible timelines. Visions, they preferred to call them, but they didn't deny that they could very well be timeline resets.

Sans had felt as though he had relived multiple lives, doing the same things over and over again at the whim of a child. Whether those timelines had ended where everyone was spared or where everyone died, Sans had grown very weary of it all. He was just glad that Frisk decided to end their game on a pacifist run instead of a genocidal one; otherwise, someone would be having a really bad time. 

Stretch was just like him in that regard. It had been strange to see a Papyrus acting just like him, from the way he never bothered to pick up his own socks to his great sense of humor, but he had become accustomed to it with time. Sans honestly appreciated Stretch being around; the taller skeleton had helped him in various ways that no one else could. Great minds thought alike, even if they disagreed on whose brother reigned superior.

But unlike Sans, Stretch was a bit on the fence regarding the human, mainly because this was the first time that a Chara had appeared. Sans wondered if her being his other self's adopted daughter—wow, that was still weird to think about—had anything to do with her being here. 

G snorted. "i don't think you have to worry much about her. daddy dearest won't stand having his princess be anything but a genteel lady."

Stretch lifted a brow bone. "run into trouble?"

"wine is as overbearing of a dad as you think. it's a shame; chara seems like a cool gal to hang around, even if she's a bit uptight."

"must've gotten it from her uptight dad," Sans joked, earning a chuckle from the two of them. "anyway, while it looks like there's nothing to worry about, it's still too early to make any conclusive decisions. stretch, you wanna take over?"

"you know that i don't, but i'll do it anyway," he sighed. "i mean, she's gonna hang out with my bro tomorrow, so i gotta make sure that nothing goes wrong."

"i'd volunteer, but i don't want wine all over my ass," G said. "i didn't make a good impression, sadly."

"that wouldn't have been the case if you kept the flirting to a minimal," Stretch snorted. 

G smirked and shrugged. "what can i say? she's just too fun to not fluster."

How an insatiable flirt was a result of a fusion of him and Wingdings, Sans would never understand. 

"anyone else got anything to add?" Sans asked. When Stretch and G shook their heads, he declared, "then meeting adjourned. now get out of my room."

Notes:

Comic - Classic Sans
Creampuff - Classic Papyrus
Blue - Underswap Sans
Stretch - Underswap Papyrus
Axe - Horrortale Sans
Sugar - Horrortale Papyrus
G - Underpatch Sans
Green - Underpatch Papyrus

The others will be revealed later.

Chapter 5: Day 2-3: Dinner and Breakfast

Notes:

Wine is described to be a politico, which may come up in this story, but I won't be inserting any real-world politics here. So any political sounding words, like conservative or liberal, won't connote to politics. I mean, I suppose that I can use an alternative to these words, but I don't want politics to own them, you know?

Anyway, with that said, please enjoy reading this chapter!

Blue sat across from Chara for dinner, making sure that she got a good look at his displeased expression.

"YOU MISSED OUT ON OUR PUZZLES, HUMAN," he huffed, pouting.

The childish display was something to behold when knowing that the one doing it was a Sans. Chara smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Blue. It escaped my mind to inform you that we would be out all day. If it'd be alright with you, I'd love to spend time with you tomorrow," she told him earnestly.

His cheekbones adopted a light blue hue before he grinned brightly at her. "MWEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT IT WAS A MATTER OF YOUR FORGETFULNESS THAT YOU DIDN'T SHOW UP IN TIME."

"So, am I forgiven?"

"YES, I, THE MAGNANIMOUS BLUE, SHALL FORGIVE YOU, FRIEND!"

Chara smiled. "Thank you, Blue. You're very kind."

"yeah, blue here is a real sweetheart," drawled the monster next to him. Chara recognized him as the shifty-eyed Papyrus from breakfast. He shot her an amused smile. "it's nice to see that you're actually awake for dinner, princess."

She blushed but was quick to compose herself after clearing her throat. "It seems that I haven't done a good job...accurately portraying myself."

"you mean the kid in photos that your old man showed us wasn't really you?"

"Nng." She cringed. "No, that was me," she admitted reluctantly, shooting a disgruntled look in her father's direction. Her father sipped his drink, blithely ignoring her. "But I assure you, all those...unrefined moments don't happen often. In fact, I'd say that I'm hardly ever like that at all."

"so, what you're saying is that it's not in your chara-cter?" he snickered.

"WHAT PHOTOS?" Blue asked, tilting his head. 

"yeah, that's right—you were sitting on the other end of the table this morning, huh?"

"THAT I WAS. DO THOSE PHOTOS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHY YOUR END WAS LAUGHING SO LOUDLY?"

Chara placed a hand over her eyes. "Stars above. Please spare me the humiliation."

"heh. since you asked so nicely." The Papyrus smirked at her, and then said, "let's just say that we gotta keep a close watch on our cinnamon bunnies. otherwise, they just might go extinct."

"That's not any better."

"I DON'T GET IT," Blue said, his expression blank. 

"maybe you'll find out when you're older, young one," the other skeleton replied with a shrug.

"I AM OLDER THAN YOU, YOU KNOW."

After the two had their banter, the Papyrus introduced himself as Cash. Unlike many of the skeletons here, Cash's bones had a grayish tinge. His sickly appearance was pronounced by the darkened shading beneath his sockets, a skeleton's version of eyebags. He didn't look like that he could be Blue's brother, but she asked to make sure.

"NO, MY PAPY IS OVER THERE SITTING NEXT TO EDGE. HI, PAPY!" Blue stood up from his seat to wave somewhere down the table. A Papyrus wearing an orange hoodie returned the wave languidly. "ONE WAY TO DIFFERENTIATE HIM FROM THE OTHER PAPYRUSES IS THAT HE ALWAYS WEARS THE SAME THING. FOR WHATEVER REASON, HE DOESN'T LIKE VARIETY WHEN IT COMES TO FASHION." Blue tutted at this.

To her left, her Papyrus ducked his head. 

"Perhaps he finds comfort in familiarity, like slipping into a pair of comfortable, worn boots or wearing a bandana every day," Chara suggested, glancing at the fabric tied around his neck. 

"HMM. YOU DO HAVE A POINT," Blue murmured, rubbing his chin in thought. "NEVERTHELESS, THAT ISN'T AN EXCUSE TO WEAR THE SAME OUTFIT FOR THREE DAYS STRAIGHT WITHOUT EVEN WASHING IT!"

"Oh, well, that is gross," she agreed. 

"that's what my chara did," Cash chuckled. "wore the same jumpsuit for days on end. granted, the kid was stuck in the underground for that long."

"You have a Chara?" Chara asked, surprised. 

"yup. the kid's a boy, though, and a few years younger than you."

"WOWZERS! YOU HAVE A BOY CHARA? MINE'S NEITHER! I DIDN'T KNOW THAT OUR HUMANS CAN BE SO DIFFERENT LIKE HOW WE ARE!" Blue burst out eagerly, his eyelights growing large with intrigue. 

"pretty different, yeah. princess here is nothing like the rambunctious squirt in my world," Cash remarked, gesturing at her with his fork. "she's all proper and demure whereas my chara's like those anime heroes that undyne's obsessed with."

"YOUR CHARA IS A HERO?" Blue gasped.

"aren't all your charas heroes?" Axe, who was sitting on Blue's other side, said. "they freed you from the underground, didn't they?"

"WHY, YES, THEY DID," Blue confirmed proudly, blue stars flashing in his sockets. "IF NOT FOR THE POWER OF OUR FRIENDSHIP, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE THE STRENGTH TO MOVE FORWARD AND TAKE DOWN THAT BARRIER! MWEH HEH HEH HEH!"

"my chara gave a longwinded speech about friendship after the barrier crashed," Cash chimed in. "really stoked undyne and alphys's inner nerds."

"That does sound protagonist-esque," Chara remarked, marveling at their differences. She wondered that, had she been born as a boy instead, she would have been like the other Chara. Maybe she would feel the need to "tough it out like a man", or so to speak. "I never did anything like that."

"what'd you do instead, kid?" Axe inquired.

Chara offered an embarrassed smile. "Mostly hid and cried. I wasn't a particularly brave child despite how determined I was in getting out." After being hunted down and receiving death blows hundreds of times, her younger self had been traumatized by the Underground's cruelty. Thank goodness she had recovered from the horrors that she had experienced. 

"THAT'S QUITE ALRIGHT, HUMAN," Blue said, smiling at her reassuringly. He stretched out a hand and patted hers. "I DON'T KNOW HOW YOUR UNDERGROUND WAS LIKE, BUT I'M INCLINED TO BELIEVE THAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN AN INTIMIDATING ENVIRONMENT FOR A CHILD TO BE IN."

Axe made a curious sound. "i would've thought that your dad escorted you all the way. he's the protective type, ain't he?"

"IT WASN'T AS IF I ADOPTED HER THEN," her father interjected calmly. "I WAS THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, GIVEN EXPLICIT ORDERS TO APPREHEND ANY HUMANS THAT ENTERED THE UNDERGROUND."

"buuut instead of doing just that," Cash began airily.

"you let her go instead," Axe finished for him.

"OF COURSE NOT," her father dismissed nonchalantly. "SHE SLIPPED AWAY BEFORE I COULD HAVE RECAPTURED HER."

By that, he meant that he had let her go. Intentionally. She knew that he had fed that lie to everyone to maintain his ostensible loyalty to the queen, but it was hard to believe that a decorated soldier could be undermined by a little girl, regardless of her being human. Still, no one could prove his claim to be wrong. 

Neither could Axe or Cash, but they remained skeptical. "uh huh," hummed Axe. 

"so, it has nothing to do with you being charmed by a cute kid?" Cash said. 

"NO, DON'T BE RIDICULOUS," her father replied, daintily taking a bite off his fork. After swallowing, he said, "A CAPTAIN OF MY STANDING MUST BE IMPERVIOUS TO ALL THINGS, CUTENESS INCLUDED."

"I was a cute kid," Chara added, nodding seriously. "Complemented with a stuffed toy and an oversized sweater."

"are oversized clothes supposed ta make kids look cute? i always thought that they make 'em look neglected," Axe remarked. Oof. Well, he wasn't wrong, but that was the cute part, right? Vulnerability made most things look cute. 

"MY CHARA LOOKED CUTE IN THEIR OVERSIZED SWEATER," Blue said keenly. "THEY WORE A STRIPED GREEN AND YELLOW SWEATER."

"i keep hearing about everyone's human wearing sweaters," Cash huffed. "is my human the only non-sweater-wearing human?"

"no need to sweat about it, buddy," Axe snorted.

Dinner soon came to a close after Blue had described to them how his Chara was like. They were younger than Chara like how Cash's was, he had said, albeit with a sweet and cheerful disposition. Always amicable and helpful, but could be stubborn and hardheaded at times. They, like the Frisk of this world, had become the human ambassador for all monsterkind, working tirelessly to ensure peace between the human and monster races.  

Chara had asked Axe about his human friend, but he had only supplied an evasive response about them breaking the barrier like how the others had. 

As some of the skeletons left the dining hall, Chara made a move to clear the table, but Blue stopped her. "THERE'S NO NEED, HUMAN. YOU HAD A LONG DAY TODAY, SO ME AND THE OTHERS WILL TAKE CARE FROM HERE." 

He shooed her away, which Chara was frankly grateful for. She did want to help, but she felt as though she was about to fall asleep on her feet. 

Her father was straight-backed as always, but she knew that he was weary from having to teleport him and Papyrus across long distances. Of course, such a thing was hardly a strenuous activity for a skeleton of his bearing (despite his age), but she could tell that he wouldn't say no to a glass of wine and a lounge chair to settle in.

Yet the day wasn't over as he escorted her to her room, then following her inside. He dismissed Papyrus, who gladly took the opportunity to vanish. 

"What is it?" Chara asked, although she was hoping that he wasn't here to talk to her about G. He had made his stance clear and she had accepted that, but she didn't want to hear about what a poor job she had done in obeying him. 

Fortunately, he didn't have a lecture laid out for her. "CHARA, I DON'T SUPPOSE THAT YOU ARE EQUIPPED, ARE YOU?" he asked. 

"No. I was in your office when we have been taken." It wasn't like she was in the habit of arming herself within her own house. 

"I FIGURED AS MUCH." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a multi-tool pocket knife and a plastic sunflower pen. The pen was too bulky to be handled comfortably, not to mention too childish for her father to even purchase. But he had, making her very curious as to why.

Chara tucked the pocket knife away and inspected the pen. Immediately, she spotted two buttons on the side and a cluster of small holes—the microphone—beneath the petals. It was a voice recorder. 

"Your word against mine. Or, rather, your word against your own."

Her fingers curled around the pen.

"WE WILL BE ENTERING DAY THREE. KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED," her father ordered.

Chara nodded. "You don't want a report on my interactions with G? Anything that I have learned from him?"

"THERE IS NO NEED. HE IS HARMLESS ENOUGH FOR NOW." He turned around and clasped his hands behind his back. "I SUSPECT THAT THE REASON BEHIND HIS ACTIONS WAS TO APPRAISE YOU, HOWEVER, SO EXERCISE CAUTION."

"Oh." While she already had a hunch that G's flirtations had been meaningless, she had expected that they had a friendly rapport of some sort. That was...disappointing. "Of course."

"DO NOT FORGET WHERE WE ARE, MY DAUGHTER," he told her sternly. His chin shifted so that his lone red orb peered over his shoulder, arresting her on the spot. "NO MATTER HOW INVITING THE PEOPLE MAY BE, WE DO NOT KNOW THEM. CONTINUE TO PLAY YOUR PART AS THE AFFABLE HUMAN AND WIN THEM OVER, BUT DO NOT DROP YOUR GUARD. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Chara grimaced. "I understand."

"GOOD. NOW, SINCE I HEARD THAT YOU WILL BE HAVING YET ANOTHER BUSY DAY TOMORROW, YOU BEST GET SOME REST. HAVE A GOOD NIGHT, CHARA."

"Good night, Dad."

Her father opened the door, paused, and then shook his head before leaving. When the door gently clicked closed behind him, Chara flopped onto her bed on her back, her exhaustion returning in full force. 

Whatever he had seen in G—or, for that matter, in Comic—must have perturbed him enough to warrant her a warning. Her insides clenched at the thought of G harboring possibly hostile sentiments towards her and her family. Was it so wrong that she already felt betrayal by a stranger?

She rolled to her side, a tendril of her hair cascading past her cheek. Whatever was in store for them... No, it wouldn't come to that. As her father had said, she would fulfill her role as the good human who could do no wrong. As long as they were in their best behavior, the other skeletons in this household would have no reason to see them as a threat.

But if they were considered to be one potentially, Chara mused, then was everyone here in the same boat? Or was it only her family because of her?

 

---

 

Chara woke up to the sound of an annoying shrill. She pulled the covers down and squinted at the alarm clock next to her pillow. She hadn't set it there last night, and she didn't remember ever acquiring an alarm clock. The work of her horrible father, no doubt.  

She slapped the button to silence it and read the time. Seven hundred. She released a gaping yawn before stretching luxuriously across the sheets, and then dragged herself out from her warm covers into the brisk morning chill to begin her day.

With her bathroom routine finished, Chara deliberated on what to wear. After remembering Blue's description of his Chara, she decided to forgo the green blouse that she had been eyeing. That would be a bit too weird if she were to dress in the same color as his friend while spending time with him.

Instead of choosing anything green today, she reached for a red smock dress. She pulled on black stockings and slipped into a pair of flats. After a bit of vigorous brushing to tame her bedhead, she gathered her hair into a sensible bun.

Chara frowned at her reflection. Hmm.

She yanked out the hair tie, put her hair up into a ponytail, and smoothed her fringe to the side. Perfect. 

Like yesterday, her father and uncle waited for her outside of her room. Her father was out of his wrinkled uniform, now in a semi-formal ensemble of a button-down, slacks, and a cashmere cardigan. Papyrus must have succumbed to his brother's insistence because he was sporting a dark gray turtleneck instead of a hoodie. Though the tall skeleton had a pitiable expression, he nonetheless looked handsome. 

They exchanged their greetings—a drowsy "Mornin'" on Chara's part, a head bob on Papyrus's, and a warm "GOOD MORNING" coming from her father. As they headed downstairs, Chara asked if her father had planted the alarm clock next to her while she had been asleep.

"WELL, I COULDN'T POSSIBLY ASK PAPYRUS TO DO IT. HE WAS STILL SLEEPING," her father said. "I DID IT BEFORE I LEFT TO JOIN THE OTHER CAPTAINS AND THE RECRUITS IN THEIR WORKOUT ROUTINE."

"Oh, so are they still exercising or did they finish?" she asked.

"EDGE AND CREAMPUFF WILL BE TAKING ANOTHER LAP AROUND THE TERRITORY'S PERIMETER. MEANWHILE, WE WILL BE MEETING WITH BLUE, BLACK, AND RAZZ IN THE KITCHEN."

"I didn't know that Creampuff and Blue were part of the Royal Guard." Admittedly, she couldn't picture them being in the force, even as recruits. They were too...nice? 

Her father echoed her thoughts. "THEY HAVE THE STRENGTH TO BE FORMIDABLE OPPONENTS, NOT TO MENTION HOW THEY EACH HAVE BEEN TRAINED BY THEIR RESPECTIVE CAPTAINS, BUT THEY LACK THE CONVICTION TO DO WHAT A GUARD MUST DO," he scoffed. "THEY ARE TOO SOFT IN THEIR SENTIMENTALITY. NONETHELESS, THEY DO HAVE VERVE. THEY ARE PASSIONATE, THOSE TWO."

High praises coming from the notorious Demon Captain of the Underground. "Do they actually have positions within the ranks?"

To that, her father chuckled. "NO, RATHER, THEY HAVE BECOME MASCOTS TO REPRESENT MONSTERS. AN INTERESTING CHANGE IN CAREERS, I MUST SAY." 

"That is interesting," she concurred. "Makes me wonder how we would fare if we had a mascot of our own. Do you think Prince Asriel would fancy taking the spot and appease the humans?"

Her father smirked. "CAN YOU IMAGINE?"

Papyrus's pen flew across his notepad before revealing his drawing of Prince Asriel. The uncanny depiction of the prince's surliness drawn next to a crowd of happy humans was enough to evoke laughter from both Chara and her father. Papyrus smiled, pleased by their reaction. 

Their amusement could be heard from the kitchen, apparently, when Blue skipped towards them, telling them cheerfully, "GOOD MORNING, HUMAN, WINE, COFFEE! YOU THREE ARE IN HIGH SPIRITS TODAY."

"AH, YES. JUST PLEASANT CONVERSATION FOR A PLEASANT MORNING," her father returned kindly. 

"AND WHAT A FINE MORNING IT IS!" Blue enthused, grinning from cheekbone to cheekbone. Chara smiled at the skeleton's merry attitude. He was like sunshine personified. 

In contrast, his cooking companions weren't as upbeat as him. Two other Sanses were there, appearing nearly identical with the cracks running across one of their sockets. They even bore some resemblance to her father, albeit they were a few inches shorter and shared the same roundness that Blue and Comic had.

The only difference they each had was their coloring: One had a purple bandana that matched his purple eyelights whereas the other had a red bandana that matched his red eyelights. She recognized the latter as the angry skeleton from the first day. She knew that he knew that she recognized him because he sneered at her.

"OTHER ME'S, WINE HAS BROUGHT HIS FAMILY JUST LIKE HOW HE SAID THAT HE WOULD," announced Blue. 

"YES, WE CAN SEE THAT, BLUE," the red Sans remarked, snark clear in his voice. 

Blue continued, undeterred. "ISN'T THAT WONDERFUL? NOW WE WON'T BE TROUBLED IN SETTING UP THE TABLE!"

"WE COULD'VE JUST MADE THE MONGREL AND MUTT DO THAT FOR US," harrumphed the purple Sans. 

"I'M SURE YOUR BROTHERS WILL APPRECIATE THE EXTRA HOUR TO SLEEP IN," her father said wryly. "NOW THAT WE'RE HERE, WHAT CAN WE DO TO ASSIST YOU?"

While the two Sanses weren't as welcoming as Blue, they seemed to respect her father enough to allow him to cook alongside them. Whatever he had done in their early morning workout proved to earn him a favorable standing among them. Blue, in particular, thought that he was "SUPER COOL". 

After setting the table, Chara and Papyrus had nothing else left to do other than to wait. The Sanses had a rhythm going on, one that her father had seamlessly folded himself into. Having either of them milling about in the kitchen would ruin that, so they sat at the table, playing drawing games to pass the time. 

"do you think we're going to do this every day?" Papyrus wrote to her. 

"Possibly, or at least until we get our footing here," she muttered. "Not liking being part of the morning shift?"

"no," he answered. "don't want to keep meeting people more than i have to."

"Did you try talking to Dad?"

Papyrus took a moment to scrawl out his response. "can you talk to him for me?"

Despite being years her senior, Papyrus always relied on her to broach the hard subjects on his behalf. That had been strange when she had been a child, yet she hadn't minded then and didn't mind now. Although, she did find it odd that he wasn't being honest with his own brother. 

Her question must have been written on her face because he then clarified, "i don't want to disappoint him."

If his brother was to be disappointed, then wouldn't he be disappointed anyway regardless of who told him? Chara didn't speak her thoughts aloud, though; she knew that Papyrus meant that he didn't want to see his brother's expression of disappointment. 

"I get it," she said. "Do you want me to ask after breakfast?"

Papyrus twiddled his fingers and nodded tentatively. 

"No problem, but I do think it's a strange thing to be disappointed about," she said, returning her attention to the drawings. "It's no worse than, say, that time you requested to skip out on the militia proceedings."

"this is different. we're not home."

She pursed her lips. "Do you really think Dad's right about being surrounded by enemies?"

"dunno. maybe."

An awkward silence fell upon them. Chara opened her mouth to say something else until a loud thud sounded off next to them. She and Papyrus jumped in their seats, startled. 

"HUMAN, WIMPY VERSION OF MY BROTHER," the purple Sans said, acknowledging them respectively as he flashed his sharp teeth. On the table next to him was a long metal pot, which undoubtedly was what had caused that noise.

Being surprisingly close to them, Chara got a good view of his eyelights. She had been wrong before—only one of them was purple while the other was white. What was more, they were...oddly-shaped. In one socket, the purple eyelight was comprised of three triangles, one triangle being stacked on top of the other two. In the other socket, the white orb had a purple outline of those triangles within. 

Stars and circles for eyelights, she had seen, but triangles? That was new.

"ARE YOU DONE OGLING, HUMAN?"

Chara flinched, mortified that she had been caught staring. "I'm so sorry," she began, her cheeks burning. "That was very rude of me—"

"MWAH HAH HAH!" the Sans cut her off with a cackle. "YOU THINK THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND? I KNOW FULLY WELL THAT YOU'RE ENAMORED BY MY MALICIOUSNESS. YOUR ADORATION IS PLAINLY OBVIOUS!"

"I... Pardon?"

"MY CHARA IS JUST THE SAME. EVEN AFTER HEARING MY REJECTION, HE PERSISTENTLY CHASES AFTER ME LIKE THE PATHETIC LOVELORN WHELP THAT HE IS." He sighed as though he had to bear a great burden. "THE ONLY REASON WHY I HUMOR THE FOOL IS BECAUSE HE PROVES TO BE AMUSING."

"I see..." Chara got the feeling that this Sans had the wrong idea about his Chara, just as much as he was wrong about her sudden "adoration" for him. 

"IRREGARDLESS," he went on, using the made-up word as though it truly was a word, "I AM OBLIGED TO INFORM YOU THAT I AM IN NO WAY INTERESTED IN PURSUING A RELATIONSHIP WITH A HUMAN. THE FACT THAT YOUR SPECIES MUST EXPEL WASTE FROM YOUR REAR END AFTER CONSUMPTION DISGUSTS ME."

Her brows knitted in consternation. Goodness, he wasn't about to go on a rant about human beings like how Napstaton had, was he?

"AND THE JIGGLY PARTS OF YOUR BODIES IS ADDITIONALLY DISGUSTING, NO MATTER HOW SOFT AND SUPPLE YOUR FLESH MAY BE." As though to punctuate his point, the purple Sans cupped his hands, curling and uncurling his fingers repeatedly. "I NEVER WANT TO TOUCH A HUMAN, SO DON'T THINK ABOUT SEDUCING ME."

"Noted," Chara replied sincerely. Desperate to change the topic, she asked, "Is there something that we can do for you?"

He straightened his back. "IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT YOU WERE ABSENT DURING LUNCH, WHICH MEANS THAT YOU DIDN'T TRY MY COOKING. TO REMEDY THIS BLUNDER OF YOURS, I WILL GENEROUSLY GIVE YOU FIRST HELPINGS OF MY BURRITOS. YOUR WELCOME! MWAH HAH HAH!"

"You can eat burritos for breakfast?" she asked, unable to stifle the rise of disinclination that she felt.

"OF COURSE! HAVEN'T YOU HEARD ABOUT BREAKFAST BURRITOS?"

"I'm afraid not."

The Sans looked at her with widened sockets, baffled. "WHAT SORT OF ROCK HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER? I THOUGHT THAT THE MONSTERS IN YOUR WORLD HAVE BEEN ON THE SURFACE FOR SEVERAL YEARS!"

"Erm." She glanced at Papyrus, who shrugged helplessly. "Well, it has come to our attention that our surface isn't as...advanced compared to the surface here, both technologically and...culturally." 

Chara didn't want to make it sound as she and her family originated from a backward era, but everything that she had observed in the mall had shown her the novel qualities that this world had to offer. It was like she had been Undyne stepping out to the surface for the first time. 

Not only was the technology bright and alluring, but so were the food and fashion. Well, some of the food and some of the fashion. She didn't care for the "sushi pizza fusion" that G had introduced them to, and she had thought that the clothes that a handful of women had worn were absolutely scandalous. Perhaps she was a frumpy conservative grandmother in comparison, but she much preferred to conceal her buttocks than let them hang out. 

The Sans considered her words before nodding. "WINE DID MENTION SOMETHING SIMILAR. THEN! AS YOUR FIRST LESSON IN ASSIMILATING IN MODERN TIMES, YOU SHALL EAT MY BURRITOS!" He grabbed a burrito in each hand from the pot and shoved them into their faces. "GO ON. EAT IT."

Chara scrambled to accept the food, still frazzled by this Sans's forceful personality. She looked over at Papyrus who looked like he wanted nothing more than to hide under his hood. Unfortunately, turtlenecks had no hoods.

She smiled weakly at the Sans. "Thank you, sir."

"MWAH HAH HAH! YOU MAY ADDRESS ME AS THE MALICIOUS BLACK," he crowed, puffing out his chest. "ALTHOUGH, I DON'T MIND BEING CALLED THE ALL POWERFUL, ALL AMAZING, ALL HANDSOME, ALL INCREDIBLE—"

Chara brought the burrito closer to her face. It looked like any other burrito that she had eaten, but who knew what could be inside a breakfast burrito? Tentatively, she took a bite, and then she hummed with delight. 

"Oh, I see now," she said after swallowing. "It's a breakfast burrito because it's eggs, bacon, and hash brown wrapped in a tortilla. The cheese and tomatoes make it especially tasty. Papyrus, you should try it!"

Emboldened by her positive verdict, Papyrus did so, and then gave a thumbs-up as he chewed.

Black beamed with pride as he watched them eat. "AM I NOT A SPECTACULAR CHEF? CONTINUE TO FEAST TO YOUR HEARTS' CONTENT, FOR I, THE MALICIOUS BLACK, HAD THE FORESIGHT TO CREATE ANOTHER BATCH!"

Chara doubted that she and Papyrus could clear the whole pot. Still, that was unexpectedly kind of him to offer, even if it was to fuel his own ego. "Thank you, Black. Your breakfast burritos are very delicious," she told him, smiling. "We don't want to spoil our appetite, though, since we want to eat with everyone."

"HMM, VERY WELL, THEN. RESTRAIN FROM GORGING YOURSELVES IF YOU CAN, ALTHOUGH I WON'T BLAME YOU IF YOU FAIL. I KNOW HOW IRRESISTIBLE MY COOKING CAN BE." With that said, Black sauntered away with a laugh. 

Chara took another bite as she watched him leave. That one wasn't someone who ever got discouraged, was he?

Papyrus nudged her shoulder, pulling up his notepad. "his brother is cash, the guy who you talked to yesterday."

Did he collect his intel already? That was fast, considering that he was without his computer. "And the other Sans?"

"he's razz, whose brother is rus."

Rus? So it wasn't Mutt? Or was Mutt just a derogatory nickname? 

"stay away from them if you can."

The warning made her blink. "Do you mean Razz and Rus? Or all of them?"

"all," he wrote. Below, he added, "and edge and his brother red. they come from worlds similar to ours. dangerous."

"Who is Red?"

At the question, Papyrus hesitated. "the pervert."

"The one who stared at...?"

His cheekbones glowed yellow. "yes," he grumbled, scowling. "stay away, okay?"

"I don't think I'll be willing to be in his company any time soon," she sighed. 

Eventually, she and Papyrus were called to the kitchen to deliver the food to the table. 

Notes:

Red - Underfell Sans
Edge - Underfell Papyrus
Black - Swapfell (Purple) Sans
Cash - Swapfell (Purple) Papyrus
Razz - Fellswap (Red) Sans
Rus - Fellswap (Red) Papyrus

Chapter 6: Day 3: Breakfast

Cash seemed friendly enough, but he was a swindler; Chara could see it in his eyes. 

Black seemed easy to understand, but he was a captain in his world; the way he had behaved in front of her and Papyrus could have been an act to make them think that he was simple-minded. While she didn't expect all the captains to be a politico like her father, they must have participated in court matters, indicating keen intelligence.

Chara didn't know much about Razz or Mutt—ahem, Rus—but Razz certainly wasn't shy in expressing his disdain for her. 

Was he like Edge in that he was adjusting to humans? Or did he happen to dislike humans on principle? Or was it because she was a Chara? Assuming that he had a Chara, did they have a conflict of some sort? Was he taking his frustration out on her, then?

She was half-tempted to take a seat in front of Razz and gauge his reaction, but she didn't want to risk triggering a metaphorical bomb. The same could be said for Edge. 

After that revelation about G, Chara didn't feel comfortable sitting anywhere near him. And since Green was his brother, she didn't want to sit by him either; a betrayer by association, she maturely thought.

She certainly wasn't going to sit in front of Red, and she was going to keep her promise to Papyrus by steering clear of Rus and Black. 

Blue was a safe option, but she would be hanging out with him after breakfast, and wouldn't that be a little too much? There was his orange brother who she had yet to be introduced to. She hadn't eaten with Creampuff yet, but he was the brother of Comic, the supposed ringleader of this game of mistrust. Enemy by association. 

There were Axe and Sugar, both of whom she had shared delightful conversations with (at the expense of her dignity). Eating with them again would be a delightful affair. 

Spotting empty seats in front of Axe and Sugar, Chara drifted over to them, only to stall when Comic and G had slipped into them instead. Well, okay, then. 

How about Blue? She turned her head to see Edge there, openly arguing with him. Nope.

Creampuff? He wasn't seated yet. Chara wanted to wait to see where he would go, but Papyrus kept tugging on her sleeve to choose somewhere. 

"Is Dad not done in the kitchen yet?" she asked. 

"said to just wait for him," Papyrus mumbled. 

Seriously? At this rate, there wouldn't be a perfect row of three empty chairs for them to sit. Chara chewed on her lower lip, feeling like she was ten-years-old again trying to find a table in the school cafeteria. 

"Coffee? Chara? Is something the matter? You've been lingering here for quite some time." Green approached them with a kind yet curious smile on his face. "Do you require assistance?"

"Ah, no, we're fine, but thank you for asking. We're just waiting for my father. It seems that he's caught up in the kitchen," Chara said, returning his smile.

"Is that so? How about you sit down while you wait? I heard that you three have assisted in preparing breakfast again." He subtly led them away from the wall and towards the table. 

"We have. We want to help in any way that we can. It's only fair since we're receiving free lodging and food," she replied as she discretely eyed him, considering. 

Green wasn't her first choice...or her second or third, but he was pleasant to be around, admittedly, so Chara decided to temporarily strip him of his title as the betrayer by association. Chara and Papyrus ended up sitting in the middle of the table with Green right across from them. 

This arrangement wasn't so bad. Now, all they had to do was have her father occupy the seat next to hers—

—that was promptly stolen by Rus.

Chara's eyes flew wide open, and she felt Papyrus stiffen beside her. 

"hey, darling," Rus said, peering down at her from his towering height as he smiled lazily. "a fine morning to see your pretty face."

Flirting? Again? What was up with these skeletons hitting on unsuspecting humans? Chara distractedly smoothed out the folds of her dress as her heart pounded furiously in her chest. She shouldn't get affected, Chara admonished herself inwardly; he didn't mean anything by it, obviously. He was just trying to incite a flustered response out of her.  

Regaining her bearings, Chara offered him a polite smile. "Thank you," she replied. "You too."

"oh? you think i'm pretty too?"

Without meaning to, she slapped her forehead.

"Now, Rus," Green began sternly, cutting through Rus's raspy laughter, "there's no need to tease the human. Besides, her father will want to sit next to her. Why don't you sit next to me instead?"

Chara half-expected Rus to deliver a mocking protest, yet, to her surprise, he shrugged and complied. He blinked out of existence before reappearing next to Green. Rus then slouched comfortably in his seat, his hood providing him a cushion against the chair's backrest. 

He was rather easy-going, wasn't he?

Chara didn't realize that Papyrus had a firm grip on her arm until she felt him release her. He sighed as his shoulders slumped forward. Rueful for his troubles, Chara patted his back. So much for avoiding the dangerous ones. 

"Coffee, Chara, would you like any drinks in particular?" Green asked. "And I don't mean the pitchers on the table. If you care for, say, coffee, I'd be more than happy to brew a pot."

At the mention of coffee, Papyrus perked up. 

"That's very kind of you, Green," Chara said, a little taken aback by the offer. 

She didn't think that he would be willing to do that for them. Then again, Green had been nothing but a gentleman in the duration that she had gotten to know him, notwithstanding how short that might have been. She briefly entertained the thought that Green was merely trying to gain her favor like how his brother had, seizing the opportunity when he had noticed how tired Papyrus was. 

"Not at all. I only wish to make your accommodations here as comfortable as possible," Green insisted, smiling warmly at them. If he was acting, then he was certainly good at it. 

She nodded. "As you might have guessed, my uncle loves coffee, especially with whipped cream piled on top," Chara said. "As for myself, I prefer tea."

"A human after my own heart," Green quipped. "A pot of coffee and a pot of tea. I hope that you don't mind if we share?"

"Only if you put in golden flower tea."

"Of course! And what about your father?"

"He typically drinks water, so he's fine."

"Understood. I shall return momentarily." Chara smiled gratefully at Green before he rose from his seat and ambled towards the kitchen. Papyrus seemed excited about getting his coffee intake after all this time. They hadn't thought about making coffee themselves, so it was nice that Green had volunteered to do that for them.

"do you always do that?" Chara blinked and turned her attention to Rus, who was leaning over his plate with his elbows propped on the table. He leveled his hooded gaze with hers. 

"Pardon?" 

"speaking for your uncle. i've been watching you for a while—" well, that was creepy...and straightforward "—and you would speak on his behalf every time someone talked to you two. i don't think i ever heard him talk."

"Ah." Chara rubbed her cheek self-consciously. She hoped that didn't make her appear bad in any way. She had done so mainly out of habit. She looked at Papyrus for permission, to which he granted her with a nod. "Well, you see, Papyrus doesn't like speaking with people who he doesn't know very well. Actually, he doesn't like to speak much at all."

"so you're his designated mouthpiece?" 

Chara suppressed a frown. That made her sound like someone who talked for the sake of talking. She wasn't like that at all! "I suppose? I apologize if you had the wrong impression of me."

"and do you always speak the way you do?" Rus went on, ignoring her apology. "all proper and refined like you're a human version of green?"

"This...is just how I normally talk," she said, flabbergasted.

"really? so you're not just putting on airs? because i heard from the grapevine that you're actually a slob. your dad's got photo evidence of that."

Chara looked heavenward as though the sight of the ceiling could somehow imbue her strength. Uuuggh. How many times was someone going to bring that up?

"you don't have to pretend with me, darling," Rus said, a curl of amusement evident in his tone. "in fact, i'd rather we do without the pretenses."

She sighed. "I assure you," Chara said, struggling to keep her voice from going flat, "this  is  how I talk. No pretenses whatsoever."

"uh huh."

"As for the photos, don't we all have our moments of lethargy from time to time? That doesn't mean that makes us who we are as a person."

"dunno. i'm lethargic ninety-five percent of the time."

"Only ninety-five?" Chara snarked before clapping a hand over her mouth, appalled. 

Rus beamed as if Christmas had arrived early. "i knew you had it in you. we just had to mine away the princess layers to find the real gem."

"PRINCESS? WE HAVE A PRINCESS IN OUR MIDST?" Creampuff, who had just settled in next to Rus, interjected. Astonishment colored his expression as he gaped. "WHERE?"

"it's me," Rus said in all seriousness, raising his hand, "i'm the princess."

Creampuff gasped theatrically—a genuine gasp that just sounded theatrical, not a gasp for the sake of sounding theatrical. "RUS, I HAD NO IDEA THAT YOU WERE ROYALTY!" The skeleton pushed off from his seat and lowered himself to one knee. "MY LADY, IF THERE IS ANYTHING THAT YOU NEED, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LET ME KNOW."

Chara stared, baffled.

"oh, my sweet knight," Rus replied monotonously, "i know that i can count on you."

"MUTT, QUIT MESSING AROUND!" Razz's shout pierced through the chatter. 

"sorry, puff, but i'm no princess," Rus swiftly corrected.

Creampuff's expression fell. "YOU'RE NOT?"

"no."

"THEN—THEN WHO IS?"

Rus pointed at Chara. Now, it was Chara's turn to gasp.

"No, no, I'm not—" Before she could finish her sentence, Creampuff leaped back onto his feet, pinning her down with a pair of twinkling eyelights. The rest of her words died on her tongue.

"I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. YOU ARE CHARA, AFTER ALL, AND—WAIT." Creampuff cut himself off as he donned a puzzled expression. His hand was lifted to his chin. "YOU'RE CHARA GASTER, NOT CHARA DREEMUR. BUT—BUT THAT MEANS THAT YOU AREN'T A PART OF THE ROYAL FAMILY WHATSOEVER!"

"No, I'm not," she said weakly. 

"I HAVE BEEN JAPED!" he cried. "BUT IF RUS ISN'T THE PRINCESS AND THE HUMAN ISN'T THE PRINCESS, THEN WHO IS THE PRINCESS?"

"ever considered that maybe you were the princess all along?" Cash, who had taken the seat next to Papyrus's, drawled. 

Papyrus's jaw dropped. "M-ME?"

"yeah, buddy," Cash said. "haven't you been telling us how great you are in everything that you do?"

"only a princess can achieve such greatness," Rus agreed. 

"I AM INDEED GREAT. OH, WOWIE! I HAD NO IDEA OF MY TRUE BIRTHRIGHT!"

How on earth were Cash and Rus telling him this with a straight face? 

"SANS! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT I'M A PRINCESS?" Creampuff yelled over to where Comic was. Chara could see G duck his head, his shoulders shaking in obvious mirth. Comic, on the other hand, appeared unimpressed.

"bro, they're just messing with you," Comic said.

Papyrus deflated. "THEN I'M NOT A PRINCESS?"

"sorry, bro..."

"THEN WHO IS THE PRINCESS?"

"YOU BUFFOON, THERE IS NO PRINCESS," Edge growled. "THOSE CLOWNS OBVIOUSLY MADE IT UP."

"HOLD ON, THAT ISN'T TRUE!" Blue disputed. "I KNOW WITH UTMOST CERTAINTY THAT THERE IS A PRINCESS!"

While Edge gawked at him, Papyrus brightened. "WHO?"

"IT IS THE HUMAN!"

"BUT SHE CAN'T BE! SHE'S A GASTER, NOT A DREEMUR, UNLESS... UNLESS THE GASTERS ARE PRINCESSES IN HER WORLD?" Creampuff's eyes zeroed in on Papyrus, who shrank from his stare. "ARE YOU A PRINCESS TOO, COFFEE?"

Papyrus shook his head fervently. 

"I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT, BUT I HEARD CASH REFER TO HER AS PRINCESS SEVERAL TIMES," Blue said, "SO SHE MUST BE!"

"sans, he likely was calling her that as a nickname, not as a title," the orange hoodie skeleton interjected.

"O-OH."

"I GOT IT!" Creampuff burst out suddenly, startling Chara and Papyrus. "THERE IS NO PRINCESS-PRINCESS, BUT THERE IS A PSEUDO-PRINCESS IN OUR MIDST! AND THAT IS CHARA!" He placed his hands on his pelvic bone and grinned like he had solved the world's most complex riddle. "THEREFORE, THE PRINCESS TITLE IS JUST A NICKNAME!"

"yeah, that's what i just—"

"you got it, buddy," Cash said, clapping. 

"remarkable," Rus added, clapping as well. 

"I GET IT. CHARA'S NICKNAME IS PRINCESS! BECAUSE SHE IS QUITE PRINCESS-LIKE," Blue cried out. "HEAR THAT, PAPY?"

"TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH, LITTLE BLUE," Edge huffed.

"Goodness, what on earth happened here?" Returning from his trip to the kitchen was Green who was holding a pot of tea and a can of whipped cream. "I could hear the clamor all the way in the kitchen."

"GOOD MORNING, GREEN," Creampuff greeted enthusiastically. "I WAS JUST FIGURING OUT WHO OUR RESIDENT PRINCESS IS, AND IT TURNS OUT THAT PRINCESS IS CHARA! BUT NOT A PRINCESS-PRINCESS—A PSEUDO-PRINCESS!"

"A PRINCESS, YOU SAY?" Materializing behind Chara and Papyrus was her father. He reached past them to place a cup of hot coffee in front of Papyrus. "HOW DID THIS COME TO BE?"

For one reason or another, Cash and Rus began to sweat under the weighted stare that her father was directing at them. Had they seen what her father's capabilities were? Or did they feel the pressure of a displeased parent bearing down on them?

"Here you go, Chara," Green said, procuring a teacup out of nowhere. "Would you like me to pour you a cup?"

Chara exhaled. "Yes, please."

Chapter 7: Day 3: Puzzles

Notes:

Things to note: There is a spelling difference between "welp" and "whelp". How about that? Also, Blue says "WOWZERS" instead of "WOWIE". Wowiezers. I've made edits to accommodate those two things.

Just what were those two up to?

Papyrus didn't know. He wanted to find out, but he knew that there was no way in getting inside the heads of his alternate selves. Cash and Rus, although similar to him outwardly, couldn't be any different.

They were protective of their brothers and cared for their friends, sure, but their standards of going about it were low, as evidenced by their high LV. Papyrus didn't think that he would grow so callous to allow himself to put down lives so flippantly. 

Perhaps he was being a bit sanctimonious, especially considering how he never had to grow up in an Underground where the ubiquitous mindset was "kill or be killed", but didn't that make Cash and Rus all the more worrisome? With the way they had messed around with Chara, they didn't seem all that worried about her capabilities. Did they think that they would be able to handle her if she did something?

"PAPY." Papyrus blinked out of his reverie, tilting his head to the source of the voice. Sans peered up at him with a question in his gaze.  

"sup, bro?" 

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING LOITERING AROUND HERE FOR?"

"loitering? can i be loitering somewhere that i loiter-ally live in?"

"YOUR PUNS ARE GETTING WORSE AND WORSE EVERY TIME I HEAR THEM," Sans deadpanned, and Papyrus couldn't help but laugh at that.

"with so many humerus guys around, we're bound to hear the same joke rehashed." That was the downside to having several others sharing his sense of humor. A tragedy, really. 

"HMPH. I'M JUST GLAD THAT OUR NEWEST ADDITIONS ARE TOO REFINE—" he unironically rolled his r's as though that could emphasize his point "—TO STOOP TO YOUR LEVEL OF TOMFOOLERY."

"heh. hole in one, bro." That also brought forth another question for Papyrus to mull over: Who was his counterpart, Wine or Coffee? He had assumed that Coffee would be the one to know about the Resets, especially with Wine being a captain. That was the pattern, wasn't it? Those in the Royal Guard, whether as a recruit or a captain, had no idea about their savior's ability to erase everyone's happy ending if they deigned to do so.

However, Coffee was very meek whereas Wine was calm and collected. None of them behaved like his brother, and none of them behaved like him for certain. 

He could have asked Coffee, casually drop the word "Reset" to gauge his reaction. But on the chance that Coffee wasn't the one, then Papyrus didn't want to risk the guy relaying what he heard to Wine. As much as he liked to think that he could handle strong opponents, Papyrus knew that Wine wasn't someone to provoke. That guy reeked of danger. And fancy old man cologne.

If that Sans was overprotective of his daughter, then he could imagine how much so he would be if both of his family were involved in something potentially precarious.

Speaking of which... "hey, sans, mind if i ask a favor?"

 

---

 

When breakfast had finished, Chara pulled her father to the side. She told him about how Papyrus had felt about helping out in the morning, to which her father responded with a thoughtful hum. 

"I WAS HOPING THAT HE WOULD HOLD OUT FOR A FEW MORE DAYS, BUT IT CAN'T BE HELPED," he sighed. "HOW ABOUT YOU, CHARA?"

"I'm happy to help however I can. And this will be a good way for me to play as the 'nice human', right?"

"HM." Curiously, he didn't look satisfied by that. She was about to ask him what was wrong when he then said, "I WILL LEAVE PAPYRUS BE. YOU AND I WILL CONTINUE HELPING AT THE KITCHEN UNTIL A MORE PERMANENT ROUTINE HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED."

"At this rate, do you think that you'll become a fixture in the kitchen? You have been gone for quite some time earlier. Were you cooking?"

"BLACK HAD AN...ACCIDENT," her father put it delicately. "I WAS A BIT TOO PREOCCUPIED TO CALL FOR HELP."

That was a little worrying to hear. "Do you think these accidents occur often?"

"I HOPE NOT. AND TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, I'M NOT SURE YET. ALTHOUGH, I WOULDN'T MIND IF I WAS ASSIGNED A POSITION LIKE THE OTHERS."

"I'm sure you'll get one. You're an excellent chef." Just like dressmaking, her father enjoyed preparing meals. However, back in their world, he seldom had the time to indulge in his hobbies due to work. Perhaps he could use this chance to pursue whatever activities that caught his interest.

After conversing a little longer with her father, Chara returned to the dining hall where Papyrus remained sitting at the table. He was downing another cup of coffee, the empty pot sitting next to him. When Chara came closer, she giggled at the sight of whipped cream smeared on his teeth.

"You might want to rein in on the cream, Uncle," she said, grabbing a napkin and wiping him clean. 

He looked at her expectantly. 

"He said that you can skip the shift—" Papyrus smiled, his eyelights glimmering happily "—but you have to help me clean up in the kitchen. You'd be more awake then, and doing half the work than what we did yesterday shouldn't be too bad, right?"

Papyrus didn't respond right away; he stared down at his cup for a moment before nodding. He took out his notepad and wrote, "i'm still on niece duty. makes sense."

"For how long? I wonder." Chara's eyes roved across the table, taking note of the abandoned plates and silverware. A few skeletons were milling about, engaging in light conversations instead of eating. She saw Comic nursing a cup as he slumped on top of the surface. "Anyway, if you're finished, let's get to work."

Blue was thankful for the assistance. Meanwhile, Razz continued to ignore them, turning his nasal hole with a sniff. 

Black herded Chara to the sink and commanded her to wash the dishes, which was a little daunting given the pile that was stacked high above her head. With how pushy Black was being, it seemed that she wouldn't be receiving any help from him.

Well, she had to play her part, right? She pulled back her sleeves, put on an apron, slapped on rubber gloves, and got to work. 

When the pile had been finally cleared, Chara exited the kitchen to the sight of Papyrus being talked to by two skeletons—one of them was Blue and the other his orange brother. She was surprised that Papyrus hadn't fled from the spot. Maybe the coffee had given him the strength to bear with conversations on his own? 

When she had approached the three, Blue perked up and waved at her. "HUMAN, I HAVE WONDERFUL NEWS!"

Chara waved back. "What is it?"

"MY BROTHER HAS DECIDED TO JOIN IN ON OUR ACTIVITIES FOR TODAY! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME HE HAS EVER EXPRESSED INTEREST ASIDE FROM SLEEPING AND DRINKING!"

"O-oh." Chara blinked.

"c'mon, bro. don't make me sound like a layabout," the orange skeleton said, although he didn't sound like he minded being outed like that. If anything, he just said that to prod Blue, which worked. 

"YOU ARE  A LAYABOUT, PAPYRUS," Blue growled. "A LAZY, BOONDOGGLING BUM!"

Chara smiled wryly. He sounded just like Sugar when he had lectured Axe. Her amusement didn't go unnoticed by the brother, however, as he dramatically clutched at his chest. 

"you wound me. now the human is laughing at me."

"YOU ARE LAUGHABLE."

"I'm sorry if I caused any offense." She doubted that, but it didn't hurt to apologize anyway. Chara smiled and said, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Chara Gaster and this is my uncle, Coffee. May I know the name of whom I'm speaking to?"

"'whom', she says," the orange skeleton huffed to himself humorously. He held out a hand. "i'm called stretch around these parts, miss. nice to finally see you face to skull." 

Chara was about to shake his hand when Papyrus cut between them by sticking out his arm, thrusting his notepad at her face that read "he has a whoopee cushion strapped to his hand." 

Blue had read that as well because he shot his brother a disbelieving glare. "REALLY, PAPYRUS? I THOUGHT WE WERE PAST THIS!"

"ah, spoilsport," Stretch said, pocketing his hands into his hoodie. 

They had a comedian in their midst, it seemed. 

"HUMAN, I APOLOGIZE FOR MY BROTHER'S TENDENCY TO FOOL AROUND," Blue said, aggrieved. "I SWEAR THAT HE WILL BE ON HIS BEST BEHAVIOR IF HE PLANS ON HANGING OUT WITH US." Blue emphasized his point by sending Stretch a warning look. Stretch remained unfazed. 

"Ah, it's fine. My uncle intercepted the handshake before, um, anything happened," Chara assured. 

That was enough to appease Blue. The short skeleton released a deep sigh of relief and exclaimed, "WELL, THEN, LET US NOT WASTE TIME DILLY-DALLYING HERE! ONWARDS!"

When Blue had mentioned puzzles, what Chara had in mind were board games if not video games. Perhaps even sudoku or Junior Jumble—something relaxing and uneventful. What she hadn't expected was a full-fledged obstacle course. 

Behind the mansion was an expansive grassy terrain. The cobbled walkway curved along one side of the perimeter of the outdoor space, leading to a gazebo that was off to the side. From the distance, trees and bushes peppered the edges.

The maintenance could be better given the uneven mowing and the odd patches of weeds sprouting here and there. A shame that there weren't any flowers either, but Chara could see that the backyard was put to a more functional use than an aesthetic one. For instance, how it was occupied by exercise equipment and play structures.

"WELCOME TO THE MAGNIFICENT BLUE'S EXTRAVAGANT DELUXE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE!" Blue announced with flair. He grinned proudly as he did jazz hands. "IN ORDER TO SUCCEED, YOU MUST GO THROUGH EACH PUZZLE AND OBTAIN THE HINT TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT!"

Papyrus appeared disgruntled by the word "move". He must have expected this to be a sit-around session like how she had. 

Chara looked warily at the rock-climbing structure and the ropes dangling from support beams. "Erm, what if we're physically unable to accomplish the task at hand?"

"NONSENSE! OF COURSE YOU CAN DO IT!" Blue gave her a thumbs-up and a wink. "IF MY CHARA CAN OUTRUN ALPHYS AND WIN AGAINST NAPSTATON'S DANCE CONTEST, THEN I KNOW THAT YOU CAN DO IT TOO!"

Chara hid a grimace. Yes, she had done those same things. As a child, though, she had more stamina and strength than what her adult self could ever hope to muster. Her days after the Underground had been mostly spent sitting behind a desk, after all. 

"would it be too late to back out now?" Papyrus whispered in her ear. 

She elbowed him gently. 

"LET'S GET STARTED!" Blue whipped out a piece of paper and unfolded it. He cleared his throat and said, "THE FIRST PUZZLE: AMONG HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO FIND. YOU CAN TEETER TO THE LEFT; YOU CAN TEETER TO THE RIGHT; YOU CAN STAY ABOVE GROUND. HOWEVER, WHAT YOU NEED FOR THIS TO HAPPEN STAYS ON THE GROUND. WHAT IS IT?"

Chara pursed her lips. Teeter to the left and teeter to the right... That sounded like a seesaw. If both ends were of the same weight, then the seesaw would be above ground. Yet for a seesaw to work, it required two things: a board and a—

"fulcrum," Papyrus supplied.

Chara and Papyrus meandered around the structures while Blue and Stretch trailed after them. Soon enough, they had located a seesaw. Or, at least, a plank of wood propped against a triangular block. Papyrus knelt in front of it and peered around, then extracting a note that had been taped on the side of the fulcrum. 

"GOOD JOB! YOU FOUND THE SECOND PUZZLE!" Blue congratulated earnestly as if the answer to the initial puzzle hadn't been obvious whatsoever. 

Papyrus handed her the note. Chara accepted it and read aloud, "What are the three next letters after the following? OTTFFSS. After finding the letters, find the object whose word ends with those three letters." Her brows knitted together in confusion. Well, so much for starting off easy. 

Papyrus looked over her shoulder, his eyelights transfixed on the string of letters. Chara mulled over what correlation they had with one another. 

She wondered if there was a pattern to ascertain. S came before T in the alphabet, so maybe the list was going backward alphabetically. But the double F's were inserted between the T's and S's, and Chara had no idea what the lone O was doing there in the beginning. Could the backward rule be applied to the F's and that there was a switch off? So OTTFFSSEEO, in which O was tacked on to the end because the T-S pair and the F-E pair had been completed. Then the overall list would go something like OTTFFSSEEORRDDQQCCO. 

Papyrus passed his notepad over to her. Chara blinked owlishly at the contents.

"E, N, and T. The first letter of the numerical order is listed, so what comes after one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven should be eight, nine, and ten," she read. Chara lowered the notepad, feeling...not very smart at the moment.

Right, exactly what word ended with EEO?

Chara and Papyrus's first guess was to find a tent. As it turned out, they were right. Inside the tent was yet another paper. Blue insisted that everyone were to huddle inside for the next puzzle.

After the tent flap had been zipped up, seemingly out of nowhere, Blue procured a flashlight. "FOR THE AMBIENCE," he explained, turning it on and off. There was a mischievous lilt in his tone that had Chara curious as to what they had to solve next.

"Oh, it's rather long," she noted before reading aloud again. "Once upon a time, there lived a happy family consisting of a couple and their two adult daughters. One day, the mother dies due to an illness, and a funeral is held. Many people are attending the funeral since the mother was friends with everyone in their neighborhood. However, the elder daughter notices that there is one person there who she doesn't recognize. 

"She is taken aback by his presence because he is a handsome monster with a majestic skeletal frame and dreamy eyes that can turn into dazzling stars. Of course, this monster doesn't show his starry eyes because he is distraught that his lovely acquaintance is dead. Which explains why the daughter hasn't seen him before because he's a monster who doesn't live in a human neighborhood.

"And after learning that not only is he handsome but absolutely brilliant and funny and magnificent, she instantly falls in love with him. She daydreams about marrying him under the night sky where the stars would shine as bright as his eyes, but they won't because his eyes are clearly superior in terms of brightness. And she thinks about kissing his delectable teeth every night, just wondering how they would feel against her lips."

Chara took the time to comment, "You are quite the romanticist, Blue."

Blue beamed. "THANK YOU!"

"But on one faithful day, another tragedy strikes, and the younger sister is found dead. After some thorough investigating, the police discover that the elder sister is the murderer. Why did she do it?"

Promptly, Chara received Papyrus's notepad again. On the first line read "how can you read all that with a straight face?", and on the second line read "she wanted to see the monster again, and the only way she knows how is by getting him to attend another funeral".

Chara relayed the answer to Blue, and then remarked, "That's creepy."

"MWEH HEH HEH! IT IS, ISN'T IT? AND SINCE YOU FOUND THE ANSWER, I SHALL GIFT YOU ANOTHER PUZZLE THAT IS ADDITIONALLY CREEPY." Or corny, she wagered. "A HUMAN MAKES IT AND SELLS IT. ANOTHER HUMAN BUYS IT BUT NEVER USES IT. THE HUMAN WHO DOES USE IT NEVER SAW IT. WHAT IS IT?"

"a coffin," Stretch answered. "you gave it away when you used humans, bro."

"DRAT!" Blue pouted. "BUT I HAD TO SPECIFY BECAUSE MONSTERS DON'T USE COFFINS."

"don't sweat it. hey, i got one. what did the mom ghost say to her kid ghost?"

Chara perked up. "Oh, I know this one. 'Don't spook unless you're spooken to.'"

Stretch snickered. "i have another. what do sea monsters eat?"

"PAPY, NO."

"Fish and ships," Chara answered with a grin. Those awful puns that she had been subjected to hear in school were finally paying off.  

"why are skeletons so good at chopping down trees?"

"they're lumbar-jacks," Papyrus deadpanned, visibly unimpressed. That evoked a giggle out of Chara. Stretch, likewise, found her uncle's reaction funny; he snorted and smirked before preparing another joke. 

"OKAY, MOVING ON!" Blue interjected hastily, cutting his brother short. "HERE'S THE NEXT PUZZLE."

The following puzzles were like their predecessors, each varying in degrees of difficulty. Chara seldom solved any of them since either Papyrus or Stretch would reach the answer when she would be a quarter there figuring out the problem. She didn't mind that, though; she was glad that Papyrus's reluctant participation had evolved into an enjoyable and active involvement. 

Besides, she had the ever-so crucial role in being the announcer of these questions—just so her withdrawn uncle and the lazy Stretch could be spared from having to exert themselves more than necessary, naturally.

Furthermore, there wasn't much strenuous activity as Chara had feared. The most they had been expected to do had been to climb up a ladder made out of rope to reach for a clue. Despite the arguments that the skeletons could avert their gaze, Chara had reasoned that a relatively windy day like this could cause her dress to fly up; therefore, she had been exempted from performing the mission.

(Blue had tsked at Chara for her unpreparedness.)

Stretch had made a half-hearted excuse about twisting his funny bone, to which Blue had pointed out that hadn't made sense. Nevertheless, Stretch had been pardoned. Something in Papyrus's expression—the look of utter dismay, Chara was sure—had Blue granting him a full acquittal. In the end, Blue had been the one to climb the latter...even though any of the skeletons could retrieve it down via levitation.

Overall, the experience was a fun one. Blue revealed himself to be quite clever in creating this obstacle course, and Chara found herself being drawn by his effusiveness and energy.

Stretch was... Well, he was just there. He wasn't as engaging as the rest of them despite answering many of the questions, but he didn't make bad company either. Chara was inclined to believe that he joined to watch over her and Papyrus, especially since his brother was involved. 

When they had cycled through every puzzle, there was an hour until lunchtime. Chara was pleased that they had finished at a good time. She was particularly happy to see Papyrus's countenance relaxed and satisfied. He deserved to feel accomplished; he had been remarkable with those puzzles.

Blue thought so too because he had enthusiastically remarked on his quick problem-solving skills and aptitude in riddles. Papyrus blushed brightly at that and tugged the neck of his sweater over his face, resembling a turtle retreating into its shell.

"THANK YOU FOR TRYING OUT MY EXTRAVAGANT DELUXE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE! ALTHOUGH IT'S CLEAR THAT YOU'RE FULL OF GRATITUDE IN HAVING EXPERIENCED MY GENIUS. MWEH HEH HEH!" Blue said, grinning cheekbone from cheekbone.

"We really did have fun," Chara chuckled. "Thank you, Blue. Today has been a wonderful day because of you."

He rubbed the back of his head as he bashfully toed the ground. "AW, YOU'RE WELCOME, HUMAN!"

"that was pretty fun, sans." Stretch stretched and gave a gaping yawn. "i'm all tuckered out. how about we clean this up and you can have these two kiddos help out at the kitchen, yeah?"

So that he could relinquish the babysitting role to whoever was on lunch duty, Chara deduced. He really was indolent. 

Blue gawked at him, flabbergasted. "YOU WANT TO HELP WITH CLEANING UP?"

"what? don't me to? i'm fine with taking a nap if that's what you want."

"NO, NO! THIS IS JUST THE FIRST TIME I EVER HEARD YOU VOLUNTEER TO HELP ME WITH SOMETHING."

"hey, that's not true. i help you on plenty of things."

"NO, YOU DO NOT!"

"i helped clear out the pantry that one time, didn't i?"

"FINISHING A BOTTLE OF HONEY DOES NOT COUNT, PAPYRUS," Blue groaned dramatically. 

Chara couldn't help but smile bemusedly at their banter. These exchanges had been a frequent occurrence throughout the game, and she had yet to adjust. The knowledge that these were a pair of Sans and Papyrus was, well, interesting. She couldn't imagine her father and uncle's interactions ever going in the same way. 

She couldn't imagine her father being as upbeat as Blue, or Papyrus being as boisterous as Creampuff. Perhaps she could draw a comparison between her father and Comic, but the automatic image of Comic's slouch and pink slippers forced her to dismiss it. And she was beginning to see that there wasn't a Papyrus who was as crippling shy as hers. He definitely wouldn't strap a whoopee cushion on and have people shake his hand.

They proceeded to get to work. Chara and Papyrus gathered the discarded notes while Blue and Stretch moved some of the equipment to the shed with magic. According to Blue, the ones that remained outside were what the others regularly used to workout. It was a little amusing to think that the skeletons would do muscle training without having muscles. 

"I heard that you were training to be a part of the Royal Guard, Blue," Chara said. "Do you still train even when you don't have to?"

"OF COURSE! I MAY BE A BELOVED MASCOT REPRESENTING MONSTERKIND, I WANT TO KEEP IN TIP-TOP SHAPE. IT TAKES WORK TO BE THIS HANDSOME," Blue replied, gesturing at himself. 

"ain't my bro so cool?" Stretch chortled. 

"My father told me about that, how you're a mascot. Do you not have anything to do today?" Chara asked. 

"TODAY IS MY DAY OFF, WHICH IS WHY I WAS ABLE TO SHOW YOU MY PUZZLES. IT'S CREAMPUFF'S TURN TO BE OUR REPRESENTATIVE."

They alternated shifts, then? "What about you, Stretch? What do you do?" She glanced over to where the skeleton was.

"i typically work on the machine, but i also freelance as a writer," he said, shrugging. "while it's not much, it helps to pitch in."

"Does everyone pitch in too? Is that how you acquired the mansion?" A writer's earnings obviously wouldn't be enough to pay for the housing as well as the utilities, food, and clothing, not to mention the equipment here. Blue and Creampuff's jobs could be high-paying, but to afford a mansion?

"THEY DO, BUT WE GOT THIS PLACE BECAUSE EDGE WON THE LOTTERY," Blue provided. He hiked the board and fulcrum over his shoulders. "AT FIRST, IT WAS JUST ME, PAPY, COMIC, CREAMPUFF, RED, AND EDGE. WE LIVED IN COMIC AND CREAMPUFF'S BUNGALOW FOR SIX MONTHS, BUT EDGE HATED LIVING THERE, SO HE TRIED TO GET AS MUCH MONEY THAT HE CAN TO MOVE US ELSEWHERE."

"The lottery?" Chara mumbled to herself.

"IT SEEMED LIKE A TOTAL STROKE OF LUCK BECAUSE EDGE ONLY BOUGHT ONE TICKET, BUT WE WERE SOON STRUGGLING IN PAYING FOR THE LAND. IT'S NOT REALLY A GOOD THING SINCE EVERYONE IS FAR FROM HOME, YET IT IS AT THE SAME TIME BECAUSE WE HAVE MORE SKELETONS HERE TO WORK AND HELP OUT." Blue frowned. "RAZZ BUDGETS EVERYTHING SUPER SERIOUSLY. I WANTED TO BUY A NEW PAIR OF SLACKS, BUT RAZZ YELLED AT ME FOR WASTING MONEY! I ONLY WANTED TO BUY ONE PAIR!"

"I suppose we will be expected to do the same, then," Chara said. 

"YUP. I MEAN, NO ONE EXPECTS YOU TO GET A JOB RIGHT NOW BECAUSE YOU'RE GETTING USED TO BEING HERE."

"can't stay as freeloaders forever," Stretch chimed in.

True, true. What job could she pursue, then? Nothing long-term since the goal was to return to their respective universe. Could she create a plausible resume, though? 

"YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU'D WANT TO LATER, HUMAN. NO NEED TO STRESS OVER IT NOW," Blue assured her. 

She wouldn't get stressed about getting a job. Papyrus on the other hand? He seemed stressed about it.

 

---

 

Papyrus was stressed about it.

Admittedly, Papyrus had been, metaphorically speaking, plugging his ears about hearing anything that he didn't want to hear since their arrival. However, when Chara had bombarded Blue and Stretch with questions (Stretch more or less appearing unnerved by her inquisitiveness; Papyrus would have to look into why later), his fears had been confirmed. 

Just like that, his good mood plummeted. 

They had to get jobs. 

Chapter 8: Temmie

Chara woke up to the soft, bumpy cushioning that molded around her body. 

She blearily lifted a hand to rub her eyes before pushing herself upright. However, doing so caused the cushioning—pillows—what were they?—to shift beneath her weight, then sending her sliding down. Chara shrieked in alarm as she hurtled downwards, reflexively squeezing her eyes shut before she would crash into the cold, hard ground.

Only...she hadn't. Instead, she dove into another pile of pillows. No, not pillows... Chara blindly groped around and lifted her head, haphazardly glancing around. She was surrounded by plushies. Old, worn cat-like plushies with black hair and beaded eyes. Some had fluff poking out of torn seams; some had their eyes hanging barely by the thread.

Puzzled, Chara surveyed the area more carefully. 

She was in a cavern of sorts. There were mountains of these plushies that covered every inch of the ground. Above where sunlight flooded in, she could see the opening that she had fallen. Her heart sank when she noticed that the possibility of getting out was far from her reach.

Even if she were to spend the rest of her days stacking all these plushies beneath the hole, there was still no way that she could make her exit.  

Chara glumly sighed and picked herself up. 

As much as she loathed to traverse the dark, musky, and creepy caverns, she had to find a way out of this place.

She brought her knees high for every step, her legs swallowed by the sea of plushies that slowed her journey across. Chara thought that she might have to swim her way across until, eventually, the pile receded to her ankles. She nearly strumbled when she managed to reach the rocky surface.

Well, she got that over with. Now, time to find an exit. 

Being far from the only source of light, Chara stuck to the walls. She cautiously walked along the perimeter, mindful of the stray toys that could trip her, when she saw a faint glow in the distance. Excited, she hurried towards it, discovering it to be an opening the closer that she got to it.

Chara threw herself past the threshold, fully expecting to see the outside.

But she hadn't. She was still in the cavern.

Unlike the large hollow space from before, this place was smaller, narrower. The light that she saw, as it turned out, had been a lone cone-shaped lamp that hung from the ceiling. The electrical line ran from the lamp to another exit, wrapping around a corner. Chara's brows knitted together in consternation before continuing to take stock of the area.

Strange... She thought that this place was devoid of toys, but there was one sitting in the center. Chara picked it up and curiously studied it. The plushie was as old and scuffed-up as the rest, albeit in better condition. The stitching and thread remained intact, the hair relatively straighter, and the eyes secured. It even had a striped black-and-red shirt.

"Hoi! I'm Temmie," the plushie said.

Chara screamed and dropped the toy. Startled, frightened, she backpedaled from it until her back collided against the wall.

"W-wait, wait! Hush! Don't scream!" the toy pleaded, voice high and childlike. "I'm sorry for scaring. I didn't mean ta."

Chara, who very much wanted to continue screaming, especially after the fact that the toy hadn't had an automated speaker but was indeed sentient, pinched her lips together to silence herself.

A terse moment passed, and then the toy gave a lispy sigh.   

"Looks like he didn't hear ya, but it's better to be safe than sorry," the toy said. It stood up and toddled a little closer. "Try not being so loud, ya hear?"

Chara gulped and nodded.

"Hey, hey, no need ta be scared of me! I'm Temmie—Temmie the tem. Nice ta meet ya."

Temmie the...tem? What on earth was a tem?

"You're a human, aren't ya?" Temmie continued, wagging its tail. "What's ya name?"

"Um. Chara," she hesitantly provided. "Chara the human."

"Well, Chara, looks like yer a long wayz from home. How'd ya manage to drop here into the Ruins?"

"The Ruins? Is—is that where I am?" she asked, gingerly pushing herself away from the wall and stepping towards the plushie. 

"Yup. The Ruins is part of the Underground, which is where monsters reside. Not a safe place for a human ta be in." If Chara didn't know any better, she would think that Temmie was chiding her. 

Chara frowned. "Monsters? But I thought—weren't monsters supposed to be—" she made a vague gesture "—extinct?"

"Huh?" Temmie cocked its head. Although its expression couldn't change, its tone conveyed its confusion. "What gives ya that idea?"

She gave it a look. "Monsters were sealed beneath Mount Ebbott for hundreds of years. How could anyone have survived without, I dunno, food or water?"

"Oh, monsters managed to find resources, alright. Yup, yup! We not only got food and water, but we also got ourselves a power source. See that lamp? It's generated by this nifty generator that a Royal Scientist made. That generator provides electricity for the whooole underground. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Cool," Chara echoed, more in disbelief than in awe.

So monsters were still alive after all this time? They weren't really dead creatures of the long past that adults would tell children to spook them? Chara chewed on her lower lip. That might explain Temmie, even though she didn't think that a walking and talking plushie could be classified as a monster. Whatever a tem was, it certainly wasn't as terrifying as the texts would depict monsters as. 

Chara's gaze drifted back to the exit. "Um, you said that there was someone who we had to watch out for...?"

"Yeah, him..." Temmie bowed its head before lifting it back up again. "Ya wanna watch out for Asgore. He's harmless for da most part, but he's, uh, kinda insane." At Chara's alarmed look, Temmie quickly added, "But don't worry! Yer good pal Temmie will help ya out!"

"How's he insane?" Chara demanded to know. "If he's supposedly harmless, then—"

"He won't hurt ya," Temmie insisted. "He'll just force you to stay here and feed ya dusty pies. Trust me, ya don't wanna eat his pies." Somehow, the toy managed to give the impression that it was grimacing. 

That did nothing to allay her nerves. "Force me to stay?" she parroted incredulously. "Why?"

In a softer, more solemn tone, it explained, "He's the Prisoner of the Ruins, exiled here by the queen. He's been alone for many years, so he'd naturally be pretty desperate to keep anyone here for company. It's da reason why he's gone cuckoo, ya know?"

Chara didn't quite understand that seeing how she more so craved solitude than suffered from it, although that didn't mean she hadn't seen something similar happen before. She had known children who had sought out ways to fight against the loneliness, acting out in ways that would draw attention to themselves even if deserving of punishment.

She returned to the statement that Temmie had said earlier, and her trepidation shifted to suspicion. "Why are you willing to help me?" she inquired. 

"You're human," Temmie reiterated, "and I can tell that you've got yerself a determined soul. That means that yer gonna do whatever ya can ta make it back ta da surface, aren't ya?"
 
"How...? N-never mind. Yes, I want to get out of here." Obviously. Being confined to the Underground with monsters roaming about, especially a monster reportedly insane, wasn't among the list of things that Chara wanted for herself. Nevertheless, that didn't answer her question. "What do you get out of it, though?"

"Cuz we're buddies, of course!"

Chara pinned the toy a look. "We just met."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that we can't be friends," Temmie dismissed. "Anywho, we gotta get going. We stayed here for a bit too long and we don't want to be here when Asgore makes his rounds. Let's hop to it, friend!"

Temmie took steps forward, stopped, and then asked, "Couldja carry me?"

"Huh?" Chara stared at it before realizing. "Oh. Of course." There was no way that they would get anywhere in time if she left Temmie to walk on its own; it was too tiny for that. She scooped the toy into her arms, paused to consider, and then decided to make use of the backpack that she had on her. She swung her backpack to her side, unlatched the flap, and deposited the toy inside.

"Huh? Whatcha doin'?" Temmie inquired. There was a gap big enough for Temmie to poke its head out.

"I might need my hands just in case. This way, I can both carry you and do something."

"Oooh, that's some forward-thinking ya got there," the toy commended. "That's the kinda mindset yer gonna need if ya gonna survive here."

Chara didn't like the sound of that. "Survive" implied that there was danger to face. "What do you mean?" she asked, adjusting the straps.

"Down here, it's oppress or be oppressed." 

She stiffened. "Wh-what?"

"Hoi, don't lollygag!" Temmie chirped, its cheeriness an uncanny contrast to its ominous warning earlier. "We gots lotsa ground to cover!"

A shiver of trepidation ran down her spine, albeit the source wasn't because of the speaking doll that rode on her back. No, something told Chara that, despite its peculiarity, Temmie truly was as harmless as it appeared. The true fright came from the underlying message of Temmie attempting to divert her focus to the task before them. 

Whatever it had meant—oppress or be oppressed—was well-aware of the peril that laid ahead. 

Fear should have rooted her to the spot, and yet her legs carried her out of the cavern as though they were moving on their own volition. Chara didn't want to do this. She didn't want to! She was scared of facing what could be outside of this place. She didn't want to encounter the Prisoner of the Ruins or be "oppressed". 

But...she didn't want to stay down here even more. Chara wasn't a brave person, if there was one thing that could define her, it was her determination. 

She swallowed her reluctance and continued to move forward. 

Chapter 9: Day 3: Lunch

Notes:

Just a reminder that this fic is just a laid-back piece. No grand plot or elaborate romance. Just an observation of a human girl carrying on her day-to-day life with a house full of skeletons.

"Hello again, Chara, Coffee," Green said, welcoming them with a warm smile. Chara reflexively smiled back. She couldn't help it; the skeleton had a genuinely nice smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Since Papyrus and I have finished our game with Blue, we're here to assist you," Chara said. Or, more likely, they had been strongly advised to do so. 

Blue would be absent for the rest of the day since he had made prior arrangements with a friend. That meant that Stretch had no further obligations to watch over them, hence him making them someone else's problem. 

At least, that had been what Chara had figured. Stretch generally did a good job appearing unreadable, but, no matter how transient it had been, he couldn't conceal the relief in his expression when they had conceded to doing lunch duty. 

"Is that so? We'd love to have you two help out," Green said. 

"YES, PLEASE DO SO," Sugar called out happily from where he was standing. He was pulling out ingredients from the fridge and laying them out on the counter. "IT'S JUST ME AND GREEN, SO HAVING MORE HANDS ON DECK WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATIVE."

"I didn't know that you also cooked, Sugar," Chara commented, curiously watching the skeleton. 

Sugar beamed. "I LOVE COOKING! MORE SO AFTER I RECEIVED GUIDANCE FROM GREEN HERE. AS A FELLOW PAPYRUS, HE IS AN EXTRAORDINARY CHEF!"

Green smiled. "Thank you, Sugar. Now, if you could please wash your hands, we can get started. Oh, I ought to ask, do you think you can handle cutting the vegetables?"

"I'm the one who typically cooks whenever my father is too busy," Chara informed him with an assuring smile. "Don't worry; I know my way around."

"I'm pleased to hear that. And you, Coffee?"

Papyrus shrugged. In his place, Chara supplied, "He doesn't cook much, but he's a great helper."

And, so, the four of them got to work. With Chara and Papyrus washing and chopping the vegetables, they were more involved in the kitchen than they had been in the past few days. Must be so with only Green and Sugar here. Shouldn't a third person be helping? Or was this the typical arrangement?

There was a soft clatter next to her. Chara looked up from the cutting board to see a large red bowl sitting next to her on the counter. Sugar smiled down at her. "ARE THOSE CUCUMBERS FINISHED?"

"Yes, they are," Chara said. "And so are the bell peppers."

"EXCELLENT! AND IF YOU DON'T MIND, MAY YOU CUT THESE INTO HALVES?" he asked, pushing a small tub of cherry tomatoes towards her. 

"Of course." From the corner of her eye, she watched Sugar dump the vegetables into the bowl and vigorously mix the contents. "What are you making, Sugar?"

"PASTA SALAD! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A PASTA THAT CAN BE SERVED COLD? I CERTAINLY WAS UNAWARE UNTIL I ARRIVED HERE."

Neither had her family. Their reactions had been decidedly less enthused than Sugar's. 

"I take it that you are a pasta fan?" Chara presumed. 

"I DO ENJOY MAKING SPAGHETTI. ALTHOUGH, I WOULDN'T SAY THAT IT IS A DISH THAT I FAVOR THE MOST," Sugar said. Without any prompting from her, he stated, "MY FAVORITE FOOD HAS TO BE THE OATMEAL WITH THE DINOSAUR EGGS."

Oatmeal...? With...dinosaur eggs? Did he mean the lumps of sugar that had tiny candied dinosaurs within? Chara was taken aback by the childishness of the skeleton's preference that she didn't realize what expression she was making until she saw Sugar's browbone dip. 

Her eyes widened. For one harrowing second, she was afraid that she might have insulted him until he spoke.

"GOODNESS, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT DINOSAUR EGG OATMEAL IS?" 

Her lips parted slightly.

"HOW AWFUL! SIMPLY DISTRESSING! WE MUST RECTIFY THIS AT ONCE!" Sugar suddenly cried. He slammed the bowl onto the counter, causing bits and pieces of the pasta salad to jump out. "GREEN, CHANGE OF PLANS! WE MUST SERVE OATMEAL INSTEAD!"

Green, who had been manning the stove, hummed in question. "Oh? Why is that?"

"THE HUMAN HERE HAS NEVER EATEN DINOSAUR EGG OATMEAL BEFORE!"

"Is that so?" Green turned around and glanced at Chara. 

"I—I actually have—?" Chara didn't get to finish her sentence when Sugar cut her off.

"NONSENSE! I RECOGNIZE THAT LOOK OF PUZZLEMENT. NO NEED TO FEEL EMBARRASSED ABOUT MISSING OUT, DEAR HUMAN! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, UNDERSTAND THAT NOT ALL HUMANS GET TO DINE ON ILLUSTRIOUS MONSTER CUISINE!"

Before Chara could consider informing Sugar that oatmeal was a human invention, Sugar bulldozed towards the cabinets, making the impromptu decision to abandon his pasta salad. She blinked a couple of times before helplessly looking at Green. 

Green offered a bemused smile. "I don't suppose you mind eating oatmeal for lunch?"

"I, well, no. I suppose not." After seeing that eagerness in the bespectacled skeleton's disposition, she didn't think that she had the heart to ruin his plans. Sugar wasn't really all that disappointed in thinking that she never had dinosaur oatmeal before, was he? He wanted an excuse to serve his favorite food to someone.

After seeing these continuous childish displays from Sugar, Chara was starting to wonder how old the skeleton was. 

"If you want, though, I can save a separate plate for you," Green said, lowering his voice so that Sugar couldn't hear. Not that was an issue what with Sugar loudly whistling a song to himself. 

"No, that's alright. I'm fine with oatmeal." Rather unconventional for lunch, but it was seven o'clock in the morning elsewhere in the world, right? "Besides, it's been years since I had any. It'd be nostalgic to have some of the, um, dinosaur variety again."

"I'm surprised that Sugar is insisting on making you some for lunch. I would've thought that he'd only make it for breakfast."

Was Sugar anal about things like that? He had seemed quite fussy compared to his brother, but Chara got the feeling that anyone would be when standing next to Axe. Or, well, any of the lazy brothers. "Maybe he wants to eat some for himself," she figured.

"Perhaps."

With Sugar occupied with his self-appointed oatmeal lunch, Chara finished preparing the pasta salad, not that there was much to do seeing how it was nearly done. Papyrus had grown weary already, so he sequestered himself to a corner with his skull half-buried in his sweater. Meanwhile, Green took the reins of the kitchen with such mastery that Chara was nearly convinced that it was originally his.

Green swept across the floor, expertly alternating between pots, pans, knives, and ingredients. Chara admittedly got distracted observing him work his magic singlehandedly—and the monster didn't even use his actual magic!

"My dear, if you don't mind," Green began, speaking over his shoulder as he returned to his spot in front of the stove, "could you please set the table?"

Chara snapped out of her daze. "Oh, of course!"

As she floated out to the dining room with a stack of plates in her arms, Chara couldn't help but think how much Green would make such a good husband. Not that witnessing him cook had given her that sudden realization. Truthfully, after having conversed with him a handful of times, the skeleton had always struck her to be the impeccable gentleman, which happened to be a type that she personally fancied. 

Ahem. Not that she was interested in pursuing a relationship with G's brother. Or her uncle's parallel self. She was merely making an objective case; that was all.

Nevertheless, Green was soft-spoken, kind, sweet, and eloquent. And if how he held himself was indicative of anything, he must be someone of great intelligence. Oh, and she certainly appreciated his mature sense of style. He looked handsome in that turtleneck. 

Chara quickly set the plates down on the table and fanned herself with her hand. Oh, no. Here she was, thinking of silly things! As a young woman, she wasn't unaffected by whimsical thoughts of romance, especially when she had yet to experience one for herself. Although, to paint Green in that light was embarrassing! 

She needed to get it together. All she had to do was regard the tall monster as another uncle. Shouldn't be too difficult, seeing how he didn't look too dissimilar to Papyrus. 

It didn't take long for her cheeks to cool, nor for her to set each plate and set of utensils before every seat. With her work complete, Chara turned around with the intent of returning to the kitchen, only to squeak in alarm when seeing someone suddenly looming behind her.

Well, not looming, per se. Most of the Sanses here, she had come to observe, weren't tall enough to loom.

But this particular Sans certainly gave the impression of doing so. There was a particular aura about him that monster residents of the Snowdin slums used to have—shifty, rapacious, and dangerous. That enough should have had her on edge, but what made her feel unnerved was the unrepentant manner of his ogling.

With a particularly greasy smirk and hooded stare, Red gave her a slow once-over before meeting her eyes. "ey, sweetheart. sorry 'bout the fright. i didn't mean to give ya a scare."

Whether he intended it or not, he didn't sound particularly apologetic. Nonetheless... Chara withheld a sigh and plastered on a smile. "No trouble whatsoever," she told him, although her hands that wrung themselves behind her back would be indicative of otherwise. "Is there something that you need?"

"well, doll, since ya asked..."