Chapter 1: prologue
Chapter Text
Entry 1
04:00
Lab lights turned on. I've logged into the computer and viewed the calculations of the simulation I started last night. No results were deemed feasible..
The new hires are expected to arrive shortly. The first day for new hires should be as follows: overview of lab protocols alongside a tour of the facility, introduction to computer system, issuance of badges to new hires, along with an and of the current project (assigned by the boss) “Study of the SOUL”.
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God, you never understood why we needed these stupid logs. They can become so tedious after a while. Everything was exciting at first, as all new hires react to the tasks of any assignment, but since you’ve had this job since starting college, it's the little things that annoy you the most.
You were annoyed. However, you were SO excited to start the new project.
When the Monsters emerged from Mt.Ebott, there was so much new information added to the science of life ITSELF. The project you were assigned was to learn the fabric of the SOUL, compare how Humans and Monsters differ in physical and fundamental terms, and apply it to modern-day science. Even the mere THOUGHT of learning about what a soul is, how it works, can it be used for reasons other than proving your entire existence? Maybe it's even possible to combine–
knock knock
You were torn from your thoughts by a knock at the door. Is it the new hires? Oh, it will be great to have some new faces around here!.. “Hey! _____ the new guys are at the gate! Gotta hand them their badges and stuff heh heh…”Oh, it's just Caleb. He's a sweet guy. He's an intern here at the lab, and I think he just started college. He's a little awkward, but you indulge him anyway. “Thanks, Cabs! I'm heading down now!”
You took a trip to the bathroom to “freshen up” before greeting the newbs. You looked like you were awake at 4 in the morning, which you believe is a reasonable look for 4 a.m. You might want to tweak the look to appear as if you woke up at least 5 am, but otherwise, you're good to greet the new guys.
You grabbed the badges, threw on a lab coat, and flew down the stairs next to the computer lab. “Tony, I'm going down to the lobby to do the tour! Want something while I'm down there?” Your boss was on the 2nd floor. Tony was a chill guy, but rarely did he hand out assignments like this. So you thought you would thank him with a couple of errand runs. But only a couple.. “Nah, I'm aight, Jackie.”...You lost Black Jack one time, and now he's been calling you that for 8 years. That reminded you to tell the new guys about the employee parties, or rather, warn them.
Once you got down to the main floor, you were greeted by one of the entry security guards. “Yo, Jacks, there are a couple of monsters at the door. Say they're looking for the head of the monster magic project.” You pat his shoulder as you glided past him towards the entrance. “Thanks, Carter! They'll be outta your hair in a gif…..well if u had any.”
Snrk
Carter rolled his eyes. Or at least you assumed he did under those sunglasses. Once you got to the gate, you could see the silhouette of the newcomers. They looked very human from this side of the door. Although u could only see their shadow through a tinted door.
You took in a deep breath and relaxed your muscles. ‘It's ok. It's only new employees for the new project. You need help on this. Make sure they feel welcome.’
And with that, you opened the door to open the opportunity for discovery….
Chapter 2: world TOUR
Summary:
you meet the skeletons. some are nice, some are not. at least u get a lunch break
Chapter Text
Entry 2
06:00
Made way down to the lobby to greet the new hires. Must give badges. Must give a tour of the facility.
I've prepared the arrangements for their arrival days in advance, and the lab is prepared to take on the new project once the new hires are settled and informed of what we already know regarding the “Study of the SOUL”.
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The double doors swung open with vigor as your excitement beamed out of every pore on your body. What awaited you was most definitely not what you expected in terms of monsters. By instinct, you had researched the very scarce knowledge known about monsters that humans had access to. Obviously, there wasn't much, but what you had found out, you made sure you’d incorporate it into your interactions.
There were three main things you made sure you remembered
-A monster's body is made entirely out of magic.
-The soul is a VERY personal topic and isn't something you ask about right outta the blue.
-And monsters come in MANY different shapes and sizes, therefore no monster will look similar unless they are from the same family.
However…
There were two skeletons? They looked like actual human skeletons. The skull of the shorter of the two looked nothing like a human, which gave you a shiver up your spine with a feeling of Uncanny Valley. The other looked more similar to how a human would describe a skeleton, but with two scars, one running up and the other running down. You'd noticed they both tried to cover most of their skeletal parts with gloves, turtle necks, etc., although you could see where the cervical spine met the foramen magnum and oddly faded into the optical bone. It made you feel almost guilty for your off-set reaction to seeing what would normally be covered in muscle and skin.
“Uhhh, bud? Anyone home? I know me an’ my bro are new cont-RIB-ution to the team but no need to stand there chilled to the BONE.”
…
Huh?
Wait a damn second
You blinked in utter surprise. With that, the beginnings of laughter formed in your stomach. You held your hand over your mouth, not trusting your body not to betray you. Were you allowed to laugh? Was it offensive to laugh if you weren't a skeleton? Well- technically you had one…. NOPE, stop that train of thought IMMEDIATELY. You had to remain professional. You took a deep breath and stuck your hand out with a friendly smile. Though apparently, your hand wasn't good enough to shake by the pun master as he put his hands in his pockets and stared at you to an almost intimidating degree. You were about to drop your hand when the taller of the two took it with a smile. You sigh with relief as you now know at least one of them has manners.
“It's nice to meet you, sir! My names ____ but can just call me Dr.Lunarray. Welcome to Inova Labs!”
You shook his hand with a passion, then quickly let go so as not to linger for too long. The feeling of bones through fabric was enough to make your skin crawl.
“☟︎☜︎☹︎☹︎⚐︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎☹︎✋︎☠︎☝︎✏︎ ✋︎ ✌︎💣︎ ✞︎☜︎☼︎✡︎ 🏱︎☹︎☜︎✌︎💧︎☜︎👎︎ ❄︎⚐︎ 💣︎☜︎☜︎❄︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎ ✌︎👍︎✈︎🕆︎✌︎✋︎☠︎❄︎✌︎☠︎👍︎☜︎📬︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ⚐︎☠︎☜︎ ⚐︎☞︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 💧︎👍︎✋︎☜︎☠︎❄︎✋︎💧︎❄︎💧︎ 🕈︎⚐︎☼︎😐︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ⚐︎☠︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ ☠︎☜︎🕈︎ 🏱︎☼︎⚐︎☺︎☜︎👍︎❄︎ ✋︎🕯︎✞︎☜︎ ☟︎✌︎👎︎ ✡︎☜︎❄︎ ❄︎⚐︎ ☟︎☜︎✌︎☼︎ ✌︎👌︎⚐︎🕆︎❄︎✍︎”
Your confusion had to be at its highest it's ever been, and you had studied quantum mechanics.
“Ah– umm.. I-im sorry, could you repeat that?”
“⚐︎☟︎ ✋︎🕯︎💣︎ 💧︎⚐︎☼︎☼︎✡︎ 👎︎☜︎✌︎☼︎📪︎ ✋︎ ☞︎⚐︎☼︎☝︎⚐︎❄︎ ❄︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ ☟︎🕆︎💣︎✌︎☠︎💧︎ 👍︎✌︎☠︎☠︎⚐︎❄︎ 💧︎🏱︎☜︎✌︎😐︎ ☞︎⚐︎☠︎❄︎📫︎ ☟︎💣︎💣︎💣︎ ⚐︎☟︎✏︎ ✋︎ ☟︎✌︎✞︎☜︎ ✌︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎☜︎👌︎⚐︎⚐︎😐︎📬︎ ✋︎ 🕈︎✋︎☹︎☹︎ 🕈︎☼︎✋︎❄︎☜︎ ✋︎☠︎ ✋︎❄︎ ☞︎⚐︎☼︎ 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☠︎ 🕈︎☜︎ 👍︎⚐︎☠︎✞︎☜︎☼︎💧︎☜︎📬︎ 💧︎✌︎☠︎💧︎📪︎ 🕈︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ 🕈︎✌︎💧︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ ☠︎✌︎💣︎☜︎ ⚐︎☞︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ ☹︎✌︎☠︎☝︎🕆︎✌︎☝︎☜︎ ✌︎☝︎✌︎✋︎☠︎ 💧︎⚐︎ ✋︎ 👍︎✌︎☠︎ ✌︎👎︎☺︎🕆︎💧︎❄︎ ✌︎👍︎👍︎⚐︎☼︎👎︎✋︎☠︎☝︎☹︎✡︎📬︎”
“English, Wings.”
The taller one had nodded, taken out a notebook, and started writing. Was that their language? You looked at the shorter one. He had continued glaring into your eyes. Yk, for someone who doesn't have eyes, he can be very intimidating with facial and body language. You weren't one to judge on first impressions, but damn, this guy does not make it easy. The taller skeleton had handed the notebook, knocking you out of your staring contest with someone who you weren't sure needed to blink.
‘I apologize, but I don't speak other languages besides FONT very well. However, I can understand and write quite a few languages, but I cannot speak them, unfortunately. My name is WingDings, but most people call me Dr.Gaster or just Gaster, and this is my brother, Sans. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, Dr.Lunarray.
Before you even read the note, you had to admire the penmanship. His handwriting was immaculate! It put your grandmother to shame–
“My word– you have beautiful handwriting.”
Your eyes turned up from the note and made eye contact with Gaster. You could see his face turn a deep violet. How did that work? In humans, reddening in the face is caused by a rushing of blood, but as far as you knew, skeletons didn't have that. As far as you knew, at least.
“Nice to meet you, too, Dr.Gaster! NOW, shall we start with the tour? This is quite a big facility, and I wanted to get it done by lunch. Once we finish the tour and eat, I thought we’d jump headfirst into research for the new project!! I have so many ideas for what w-”
You were then interrupted by the skeleton named Sans. Very rudely, actually. You had placed a ‘finger’ through his gloves against your mouth and shushed you. LIKE YOU WERE A TODDLER. Ok, this guy is a douche. You glared at him and quickly swiped his hand away, your face flushing in anger.
“Listen, human, if ya’ wanna get this done by lunch, maybe we should start walkin’ and less talking.” Sans looked at you with a shit eating grin as his brother rolled his eyes and dismissed him. You would not feed into it. He wants to be a dick. He can be a dick. But I ain't gonna feed into his games.
“Rightttt…. So anyway, let's get a move on. If you follow me, we’ll get started.”
Once you gave the order, Sans shut up, probably to listen where everything is, but you were a little guilty of how happy that made you. You had started with the lobby and all the offices. All the main department offices were downstairs except for yours.
“Wow, and here I thought they'd sent someone of actual importance to the company. Turns out yur’ just a regular ol’ joe like the rest of us, huh?” he snickered to himself in pride. You kept talking after his comment and ignored him like the pro you were. You grew up with 2 older brothers and 1 older sister. He'd have to try better than that. After you got to the end of the lobby, you all shuffled into the elevator and went up to the second floor. You showed the labs based on what field you were experimenting in. There was marine biology. They were working on what was causing the death of a reef nearby. Turned out that all the coral in the area died within a couple of days. The whole reef is bleached, and they have a few divers checking it out.
Next to that was the zoology lab, then astronomy, chemistry, biology, applied mathematics, physics, and applied physics (they were in the same room but different scientists), psychology, and lastly, your lab. Applied magic.
You swiped your badge to open the door and walked in. It was the newest room in the building. Once monster laws were passed and monsters revealed their use of magic, your company was quick to jump on the research. When they had found nothing due to the secrecy of monsters, they built this lab in the hope that some monsters might find the concept interesting and consider applying magic to advance society.
You handed the badges to the boys and told them that the boss hasn't given the order to start yet. They nodded.
“It's 11:30, so I'm going to head to the breakroom for lunch. Tony's gonna come in here and give you the breakdown. Once you get the green light, we’ll start the work.”
You had turned to leave the lab. You didn't wanna be around the midget any longer, although u felt bad for Gaster. It wasn't his fault that his brother knew exactly how to get on your nerves. You felt an arm grab you. Luckily, it was Gaster, and he quickly started scribbling. He gently handed you the notebook with eagerness
‘Your assistance in traveling the building has been most helpful, darling. I appreciate you taking the time to show me and my apparently very rude brother locate all the different parts of the facility. I swear he's not usually like this; he's just having a bad day.’
You sigh in sympathy. You place a hand on his shoulder and give the best reassuring smile you can muster for this poor dude. “Don't sweat it, skeleman. Here I'll give you something if you exchange it for your friendship.” Gaster gave a puzzled but curious nod. You had extended your hand asking for the pen and book. He handed it over to you, still with confusion covering his face. You wrote down a series of ten numbers in two groups of 3 and 1 of 4, with the words ‘call me’ written next to them. “So whatta ya say. Worth the friendship of ‘the’ wingdings?” Gaster giggled at your attempt at friendship and acted like a Victorian child by placing the back of his hand on the top of his skull and slightly leaning back. “I'll take that as a yes, Mr. Dingo.”
You handed the notebook back and waved off the brothers with a smile as your stomach growled at you to get to the breakroom faster.
Once you'd gotten back to the first floor, you had beelined for the breakroom. You were starving. Especially with what you'd packed for lunch. The other night, you thought you'd go on a shopping spree. Meaning you had bought a shit ton of groceries after cleaning out your fridge of all the possibly moldy leftovers. By buying a lot of new ingredients, you had made yourself a 3-layer bento box with kimbap in the top layer, tteokbokki with fish cakes in the second and kimchi and bean sprouts in the bottom layer. The kimchi was a batch your mom had made a few months ago, and it was freshly opened and fermented, which means this lunch was going to be HEAVENLY.
You bust open the door to the breakroom and were surprised to see Alphys sitting at the table with a cup of instant ramen and her phone propped up against a coffee cup.
“Oh hey! Alphys, how ya doin girl!”
“O-oh! hey ____….”
She quickly grabbed her phone and paused the video she was watching. You and Alphys had been great friends for a while, ever since monster laws were passed and they could be given jobs, Alphys had applied here. Ironically, she applied for the marine biology lab instead of the new magic department, but with the new issues in marine biology, her help was absolutely needed, and so they accepted without hesitation. You had asked her why marine biology when she first started, but all you got outta her before she ran away was something about a fish wife.
“What were you watching?” You skipped happily towards the fridge. Ahh yes…LUNCH. You had to put a lock on your lunch because the people in this place act like there's a worldwide famine.
“I-im watching a new a-anime. H-have you e-ever heard of a-apothecary diaries?” Your brain had to buffer for a second before you could process the information and then remember. “OH ya! Isn't that the one set in old-day China?” You sat down after unlocking the lock over the box, opened your bento box, and took out the chopsticks. “Y-yeah! Its r-really cool! I s-ship Mao Mao a-and Jinshi SO hard.”
“I'll have to look into it if it's got good romance.” You smiled at Alphys one last time before devouring your food. If heaven were on earth, it would be your mom's kimchi. You don't know what she puts in it to make it so special. It could be crack for all you know, but that wouldn't stop you.
You and Alphys chatted for a while. You had forgotten all about the skeletons upstairs and were indulging in all kinds of conversation, spreading from food to anime to hometowns to work, etc. Eventually, your conversion was cut short by a certain rude skeleton you'd shown around before. He had come into the break room with the stupid grin on his face and towered over you from where you sat. “Dings sent you a text two hours ago that Tony gave us the green light, pal. Are you comin'? Or are ya sittin’ out on the project…” he glared at you, his sockets hazy. You had no facial features to go off of to tell he was pissed, but you got a shiver down your spine. Must be a magic thing.
“Ya ya– alright skeletor don't get yur panties in a twist”
You stood up, putting your box in your purse and walking past him. You didn't even care to look back to see if he followed you because the chill that ran through your veins gave you a fear response. You had no idea what this guy was capable of giving off such an aura, but you didn't like it. Best if you keep your distance from now on
Well, alright now. Time to do some magic
Notes:
ill have to study for the next chapter. time for SCIENCE