#what are you gonna do about it? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

findmeabowlofundertale · 4 months

Text

PART 4

FINALLY

I got stuck about a third of the way through. This one is also very long. I’m just straight up writing a fic or something now ig ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I figure, if no one’s reading these, why feel self-conscious?? Galaxy brain moment. Besides I’ll probably edit this when it isn’t almost midnight, anyway.

Here is the previous part, and here is the next part

- - - -

The last thing she had expected was to receive a call from the Royal Scientist.

Had she considered contacting him in the weeks since their long conversation at the coffee shop? Sure. Not seriously considered it… but it had crossed her mind. At no point, however, had it crossed her mind that he might actually call her.

She was nervous to pick up the phone.

She almost didn’t, actually, but then two thoughts occurred to her: I probably shouldn’t ignore a call from one of the most important people in the underground, and, Wait, how is he even going to talk to me over the phone if he signs?

Curiosity got the better of her.

She put on her best professional voice.

“Hello, this is Asteri. How can I help you?”

Nailed it.

“U-Um, hi!”

That was not the same voice that had laughed and, just once, said “ah,” while sitting across a box of donuts from her six weeks ago. This voice was decidedly more feminine.

“S-Sorry to bother you! He can’t— I-I mean, the doctor, he can’t really, um, talk on the phone? So I’m, um. H-He asked me? And I-I really don’t think this is necessary, I-I’m so sorry, I’m sure y-you’re really busy—”

“I’m sorry, who is this?”

“O-Oh, my god, right, I’m sorry! I-I’m Alphys, D-Dr. Gaster’s int— um. A-Assistant.”

Ah. No wonder he had been so patient with her own stammering and nervousness back at the coffee shop, if this was what his assistant was like.

“Hello, Alphys. Why don’t you take a deep breath and start over?”

The person at the other end did so. “Okay. R-Right. Dr. Gaster wanted to call you, b— No, I am saying it like that, you did!”

Asteri raised an eyebrow as the voice on the phone seemed to address someone else for a moment.

S-Sorry about that. So, he wanted to call you, but he only really y-you know… signs? So I’m, um! Calling i-instead.”

“Right. I understand that part. Why did he want to call me?”

Alphys’ voice seemed to get quieter, like she was holding a hand over the phone. Asteri only caught parts of what she said. “No, i-it isn’t a—! …ot really need to…. and bother her about…” Finally, there was sound on the other end, presumably of Alphys holding the phone back up to her head, and a sigh. “W-We… found some human stuff, and th-the writing isn’t in English at all— S-Sorry, it’s possibly not in English. Dr. Gaster is, um, r-really interested in it, and said he knew a l-linguist wh-who might also be interested?”

It sounded like she was relaying this, as if she were reading it… or someone were signing to her as she spoke.

“Tell her wh—? Oh…” Alphys sounded more hesitant than before. “H-He says he thinks it m-might be a… new. C-Cipher.”

Asteri’s eye widened. She just went from mildly interested but hesitant, to invested. Too invested to hear the way Dr. Gaster’s assistant sounded strangely guilty. How kind of the doctor to think of her! “Where?”

“W-We’re at the, um, th-the dump in—“

Yep, she knew where that was. “Got it. I’ll be right there!”

Oh, okay! B—”

Asteri was too excited to feel bad for hanging up like that. The dump was a great place to find records of written language, both old and modern. There were sometimes other languages, too, but she didn’t have enough of any of them to even begin to translate. There were enough monster languages to keep her busy anyway. But a skeleton finding something and saying it was a cipher font? That warranted her attention. He had seemed hesitant to speak at length about ciphers, but there was definitely more than what he had told her. She hadn’t been about to pry, just grateful for what he had been willing to share, but now? An opportunity to discover something new related to that, alongside someone with that kind of knowledge? There was no way she would pass that up. Especially not since Dr. Gaster had remembered her work and interest in the subject, and was considerate enough as another scholar to call her and let her know about this discovery.

She pulled her boots on, grabbed her bag, and took off. The dump wasn’t too far from where she lived, only about a 15 minute walk. Or an eight minute run, apparently. Skidding around the corner, her tail flicked out automatically to balance her. Up ahead, standing near one of the larger waterfalls, was Dr. Gaster, whose eyes somehow looked even more sunken than before, alongside a yellow lizard monster who looked almost comically short beside him. The skeleton perked up upon catching sight of her and waved. The lizard monster, Alphys presumably, waved awkwardly from behind him. Asteri suddenly remembered the extremely awkward way she and the doctor had parted ways last time and found herself dreading what it would take to recover from that.

“Dr. Gaster,” she greeted as she approached. “It’s good to see you again. I—”

She had looked up at him then, ready to construct whatever apology was appropriate for someone of his standing, but found herself cut short by the sheer warmth of the way he was looking at her. Like he was genuinely happy to see her again, instead of just sharing a discovery with a fellow academic. His eyelights even had that pale green glow again. It threw her off enough for her to completely lose her train of thought.

He didn’t miss a beat. “Ms. Asteri! I am so relieved you could join us. My assistant, she found the most fascinating thing!” He turned to address the monster beside him. “Ah!” There was that verbal sound again. “Introductions, of course. Ms. Asteri, this is my assistant, Alphys. Alphys, this is Ms. Asteri.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Asteri said, nodding her head in a slight bow, her habit since her wings tended to be a bit large for handshakes, and summoning hands for a quick gesture like that was often more trouble than it was worth.

To her surprise however, Alphys mirrored the gesture without seeming to give it a second thought. “Hajim— UH! Y-Yeah, y-you too!”The poor monster’s face went red. Asteri figured it was from mixing up her words, and paid it no mind. “I’m r-really just an intern, though… I’m still in college.”

Looking at her again, Asteri realized she did seem rather young. Poor thing.

“Nonsense, Alphys!” Dr. Gaster signed emphatically. “You are my brilliant and trusted assistant! If I were in charge, you would have graduated already.”

Alphys looked flustered and covered her face. Asteri smiled. That was sweet. He clearly cared about the people he worked with. One more thing she hadn’t expected from someone of both his position and his age. But she needed to focus; she was sure he wasn’t here to socialize.

“So, what did you find?”

The doctor somehow grinned even wider and pulled a piece of plastic out of his bag to hand to Asteri. “Look!”

She took the plastic— a case of some kind— and looked it over. On the front was clearly writing, but not in any language— or font— that she was familiar with. On the back was more of the same writing, but it was smaller and less colorful. That already gave her a bad feeling that this wasn’t a font of its own. She looked up in time to see Dr. Gaster finish signing something to Alphys about showing something else. The shorter monster approached her nervously, face still red, and handed over a fairly thick book. On the cover, two humans(?) with short-ish hair and huge eyes held each other in an embrace that, frankly, didn’t seem sustainable without falling over. She flipped through it. It was filled mostly with drawings, but the text that was there looked similar to the text on the back of the plastic case. It seemed to represent what was being spoken by the characters, so dialogue, which certainly lent itself to the idea of a cipher.

“What do you think?”

Asteri looked up at the man before her. He may as well have been bouncing from foot to foot with all the excited energy coming off of him. “Well, it’s hard to say. I would have assumed a different language, but with what you shared with me previously… you may be right.”

“Some of these symbols remind me of Runes of the Dragon,” he informed her, stepping closer to point to one of the more complex looking symbols. “But they look much more complicated than other parts of the text. Perhaps it is two different ciphers? I wonder why humans would write a book in such code though. Unless— No, no, that would be ridiculous. Never mind.”

She had a bad feeling about getting his hopes up. “W-Well, remember,” she said carefully, “it might not be a cipher.”

He deflated slightly, but kept his poise. “Right. Yes, of course. In either case, I… thought you would be interested.”

“Oh, well, I appreciate it, but I don’t usually work with other human languages—”

If his face had fallen any further, any faster, it might have slid right off his skull. Asteri found herself scrambling to backpedal.

“—Sssssince I don’t usually have enough material! But th-this is a lot to work with! So it will be a lot of fun to work on, whether or not it’s a cipher.”

That seemed to help bring his smile back. (Why was she so concerned about it anyway?) But he seemed much less at ease than that first time they had spoken. Well, that was none of her business. “I’m glad to hear that!” He glanced over his shoulder, then back. “I am going to see if I can find any other items with this text. They may help in deciphering this. Why don’t you speak to Alphys? She seems familiar with these items, perhaps she has some insights.”

“I’ll do that, thank you.”

He seemed to linger with her just a moment longer than necessary, like he was expecting her to say more, but she didn’t. She made her way over to where Alphys had wandered, and Dr. Gaster meandered elsewhere, seeming distracted. Strange, Asteri thought, but then corrected herself. She could hardly call it strange, she didn’t even know the man, really. Whatever odd behaviors he had, those were his business. And surely any monster would have a few idiosyncrasies after at least two centuries. Gah, she needed to focus on her work.

“Alphys—” She had barely spoken the other monster’s name, and Alphys about had a heart attack.

“M-Ms. Asteri! Haha… You scared me. S-Sorry.”

Jumpy, this one. Poor girl. Maybe she could put her more at ease somehow. “Please, just Asteri is fine. I’m hardly more deserving of an honorific than you are. Though, if you’d prefer “Ms. Alphys…””

“N-No! Uh. No, thank you. Just A-Alphys is fine.”

Several long seconds passed before Asteri decided she ought to give the scientist a bit of a nudge. “Dr. Gaster said you’re familiar with these human books and items? Is there anything you’ve noticed, any patterns? Anything that might help us decipher the text?”

Alphys fidgeted anxiously for a moment, eyes flickering between the ground, her hands, and Asteri. At last, she took a deep breath, glanced over to check where Dr. Gaster was, and then shuffled closer. “O-Okay, I-I-I have to admit s-something.”

Asteri raised an eyebrow.

“This is-isn’t a cipher. It’s… It’s a human language,” she sighed, sounding far too guilty. “It’s called Japanese. O-Or, um, nihongo. I-I, um, like to collect this kind of stuff, that’s how I know. There’s these um, these sh-shows, called anime, a-and actually they’re really interesting b-because they deal with a lot of u-uncommon tropes compared to most human media? Like there’s this one, and th-there’s these clothes that are actually aliens—“

“Alphys…”

The lizard monster’s mouth clicked shut. “I-I’m sorry,” she squeaked.

Asteri sighed softly, and not unkindly. “It’s fine. Really. It sounds… sort of interesting. I’d be happy to listen later. But I need you to focus right now.”

“R-Right. Right! Okay! S-So, anime. The audio, it’s in Japanese. It’s its own language. I’ve heard it, a-and it’s nothing like a cipher. B-But, um, Dr. Gaster saw one of my DVD cases a-and I guess it really, um, threw him off? That he wasn’t familiar with the text? B-Because the first thing he did w-was ask where I found it, so I told him the dump in Waterfall, of course. The next thing I know, we’re headed here a-and he’s talking about you again, and I’m thinking oh gosh, this isn’t even a f-font thing, but I can’t tell him that—”

“Hold on, hold on. Back up.” Asteri paused. “Actually, first, I’m sorry for interrupting you a second time. That was rude. But what do you mean, talking about me again?”

Alphys went pale. “Did- Did I say that?” She laughed nervously. “N-Nooo, um, it’s not like, uh! Eheh… N-Not like in a- in a creepy way!” Asteri just stared at her, waiting for an explanation. Alphys sighed. “L-Look, um, ever since he got back to the lab a few weeks ago, all he’s talked about is ‘the n-nice monster he met who asked him about fonts,’ and what- what a nice time he had. And, y-y’know, w-we asked him about it, because gosh, it’s not like he really, um, gets out much? At. At all. Even the people who have worked with him way longer could tell you, h-he pretty much lives at the lab. So it’s, um, nice to know he actually had a, um, a-a conversation. Not about engineering. W-With like, a real person, who doesn’t work with us.”

At this, she started to blush a little. “O-Okay, and you- you know how it is at work! Y-You like, kinda tease each other? Right? S-So, um! We, you know. K-Kinda. Gave him a hard time. M-Mostly the others! Not me! I-I mean I did a little, but like not very much, I didn’t get weird about it!”

Where was this going?

“A-And so finally, he tried to get us— th-them!— to stop by saying that y-you guys um, exchanged numbers. S-So you were going to. Call him? A-And then when your schedules lined up, y-you’d go, um. Talk. Again.” Alphys smiled nervously. “B-But, um. You… didn’t. W-Which is fine! I-I’m sure you’re busy! B-But he was just, really sure you would. S-So he kept making me check that his phone was working. And it was, of course. But, well, um. He. Got… anxious? I think? So everyone kept telling him to just call if he was that worried, b-but he wouldn’t, he kept saying you were p-probably really busy. P-Plus, like, I mean, I get it, I hate making calls too. S-So all of this has been going on for- for a couple weeks. And then he saw m-my anime DVD, a-and… yeah.”

Asteri blinked several times, a pit forming in her stomach. So used to dealing with the niceties (like exchanging contact information) of her peers and seniors in academia, and the transparently false but necessary pleasantries (like saying that you really should meet up again soon), it had never occurred to her that it was entirely sincere when he said those things. All this time he had actually been waiting for her to call. He genuinely wanted to talk again, but assumed she was too busy to call, so as soon as he saw something that might possibly be relevant to her work or interest her…

“Oh my god,” she whispered, mostly to herself. “I messed up.”

And now she had to break the news to him that it wasn’t a cipher at all. Or even remotely related to her work. She wasn’t going to make Alphys do that, this wasn’t her fault. Asteri wouldn’t have wanted to correct her boss over that kind of misunderstanding either, were she in Alphys’ position.

“N-No, no, it’s not you!” Alphys hurried to reassure her, not having been privy to her thoughts. “I-I should have told him, I, um…!”

“No, it was definitely me,” Asteri sighed, dragging the edge of her wing down her face. She shuffled forward a bit more, looking to make sure that Dr. Gaster was still preoccupied, then lowered her voice and addressed Alphys again. “I- Okay, I’m not used to dealing with anyone particularly genuine. Most of the other scholars I talk to either don’t especially care about my work, or aren’t interested enough to seek me out on their own. Which is fine, it kind of goes both ways. We meet up in groups every year or so, sometimes a few times a year, exchange or update contact information, refer each other to researchers in related fields, and so on. Occasionally we’ll send some emails back and forth about something relevant to our work. But nobody really makes friends, okay?”

She knew she sounded frustrated, and hoped Alphys understood that it was directed inwardly, not at her.

“So I happen to run into the man I’ve been debating emailing for weeks, manage to not only get him to answer a few questions, but sit down and have an hours-long conversation with me! It was great! Way more than I hoped. It wraps up, he offers his phone number, and to me it’s—“ She groaned. “It was the same song and dance. That’s what I thought, anyway! I didn’t realize he actually expected me to contact him! I haven’t been busy, I assumed there was no chance in hell that the ROYAL SCIENTIST was going to want me to call him up for a chat!”

By now her tail was flicking back and forth in agitation, the magic of her wings flickering slightly and fraying at the edges for the same reason. She summoned hands just to rake them through her hair and then bury her face in them.

“Alphys. Be honest. How badly did I screw over my chances of being on good terms with the Royal Scientist?”

The lizard monster had been doing her very best to hold in a slight smile. Knowing Dr. Gaster made Asteri’s worries seem far less serious, but obviously the older woman was distressed. “N-Not at all, I don’t think! He- He’s really understanding. Um, I’ve made a lot— a lot— of mistakes, but he’s really patient! I-I’m sure he’ll understand if you explain.”

Asteri peeked through her fingers. “You really think so?”

“Yeah! You seem like- like a really kind person, Asteri! Don’t worry about it! Dr. Gaster is r-really nice. H-He won’t be mad, I promise.”

“I won’t be mad about what?”

They both yelped at the blue hands that suddenly manifested near them. A few yards away, Dr. Gaster was sloshing through the water toward them, a troubled expression on his face. Asteri wanted to melt into the water and slither away. It wasn’t ideal since it would mean abandoning her clothes, but it also wouldn’t be the first time she’d used that exact method to escape an uncomfortable situation. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t one she could justify escaping from.

“What happened? Is something wrong?”

Asteri tried not to hunch in on herself, and refused to let her magic shift her into something better at hiding. “N-No, nothing is wrong. I just, um…” Meet his eyes, Asteri. She let out a heavy breath. “There’s just a misunderstanding I’d like to clear up. Maybe…” She glanced at Alphys, then back to the doctor. “Maybe we could sit at my house, and I could explain over some sea tea. I don’t live far.”

Dr. Gaster and Alphys exchanged looks (worried and reassuring, respectively), before he agreed with a nod. “Alright… If it isn’t any trouble.”

“None at all. Follow me.”

The walk was uncomfortable. Asteri weighed down by the misunderstanding and the fact that the text had nothing to do with fonts, Gaster troubled by whatever no one was telling him, and Alphys stuck in the middle.

“Alphys,” Gaster signed anxiously as they followed Asteri from behind, a few minutes into the trip. “Have I done something to upset her?”

“N-No, no!” Alphys whispered back, trying to sound reassuring. “I-It’s nothing.”

“Are you certain? She seems… different than before. Perhaps it was a bad time.” He strangled a noise of dismay in his throat. “She was probably busy! I knew I should not have called!”

“S-Sir, with all due respect, calling her w-was absolutely the right decision.”

He didn’t seem convinced, and let himself slouch forward with a despondent sigh. “Oh Alphys, you don’t have to side with me just because I’m your boss. Be honest. She looked very upset.”

“W-Well, she… she was, but—“

“I knew it!”

“Sir, that wasn’t—“

“This is why I have no social life, Alphys! I’m too overbearing!”

“Doctor, p-please.”

He swiveled his head to her, looking far more forlorn than a skeleton with a mostly-fixed smile ought to be able to. It was the big glassy eyes, Alphys decided. How did he even do that? He didn’t even have actual eyes. She sighed.

“Sir, she’s not upset at you.”

He paused, standing a little straighter. “She… isn’t?”

Alphys sighed. “No.”

“Almost there,” came Asteri’s voice as they rounded a corner. “If you go into the kitchen, we can use fire magic to dry off. Then, uh. Just sit wherever is comfortable. Kitchen table, living room…”

It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard Alphys whispering. She hadn’t caught what was being said, but Alphys and Dr. Gaster were clearly talking about something. Oh well. It couldn’t get much more awkward than it already was anyway.

After they got to her home, dried off, and sat down at the kitchen table, she heated the kettle for tea and sat down with them to wait for it. This was going to be so, so uncomfortable. Might as well get it over with. She took a deep breath and looked first to Alphys, who gave a nervous but reassuring smile and thumbs-up. Then she turned to the skeleton across from her and took a deep breath.

“Dr. Gaster. About… the text.”

His eyes widened and he bent over to reach into his bag, blue hands blinking into existence in the air to sign for him as he did so. “Oh, yes! I found a few more instances! Here, I’m sure that more examples will help with deciphering it.”

He sat back up and set another two DVD cases and half of a now dry but previously waterlogged manga onto the table. He looked far too hopeful. Asteri’s tail twitched guiltily. She shifted her wings to let the magic rub together, not unlike someone wringing their hands. Better to just tell him and get him over with.

“Look, this—” Another sigh. She just couldn’t bring herself to crush him like that. She tried again, tone softer. “Doctor. I really appreciate you going through the trouble to find these.”

He brightened. That was worse.

“It was… so kind of you to think of my work and call me.”

His smile faltered a little.

“But this text, it… Well, it isn’t…”

It faltered a lot.

Asteri mustered the courage to look him in the eye again. “It… It isn’t a cipher. It’s some other human language.”

He wasn’t smiling at all anymore. Not genuinely.

“Here, on this case—“ She pointed with her tail to part of the title on the DVD case he had first handed her. “These symbols right here, on the front, are the same as the ones here—“ She flipped it over to point to a specific place. “—on the back. The ones on the front are just written with a rounder, more colorful… font.”

She winced at that, knowing it was probably a slap in the face to point out the fonts like that, but there was really no way around it. Sure enough, he looked even more crestfallen than earlier. She wanted to say something more, but the kettle whistling forced her out of her seat.

“You said she wasn’t upset with me,” Gaster signed hollowly, once Asteri’s back was turned.

Alphys was much better at understanding sign language than using it, but she could sign, albeit much more slowly than her superior. But this was in too close of quarters for her to whisper. “She’s not!”

Gaster turned his head sharply to look at her. “She just told me I wasted her time, and pointed out that this is clearly written in two different fonts!”

Alphys gave him an exasperated look and tried to remember how to sign what she wanted to get across. “She thanked… you… for thinking … of her—“

“To be polite!”

“She… isn’t upset… with… you.”

“No, I’m sure she thinks me a fool. How in the underground did I miss that it’s two different fonts?! I’m a skeleton!”

“You… haven’t… slept… in days.”

Gaster scoffed silently. “I took a nap…”

“Yesterday.”

“Sorry for the wait.”

Both scientists looked up in time to see Asteri turn around with a cup in each of… her now three tails. No, it was still one tail, but she had split it into three prehensile ends.

“It won’t be cold, since I just made it, but I put ice cubes in there…”

Alphys was quick to latch onto literally anything other than comforting her boss. “Th-That’s fine, thank you!” She took a sip once it was set in front of her.

“Yes, thank you.”

Asteri returned to her seat and sipped her own tea, if only to escape the discomfort of continuing the conversation for a few more seconds. Dr. Gaster had to be disappointed he had wasted his time. And now she was about to make it worse.

“Um. There’s one other thing.”

Dr. Gaster’s eyelights flitted over to Alphys for a split second, surrounded by just the faintest glow of violet.

Asteri rubbed the back of her neck— it was attached to her head for the time being— and looked away. “I… feel like you’re going to be upset, even though Alphys said otherwise, and it would be completely understandable. But you deserve to know the truth.”

He looked to Alphys again, panicked. She quickly signed, “It’s okay!” Then, after a beat, “I think.”

He wasn’t reassured.

“The last month and a half… I have not been particularly busy. Not too busy to make a phone call, anyway.”

Silence. Stillness.

“I… ugh, where do I begin? When I meet with other scholars…”

“I’ll save you the trouble, Ms. Asteri.”

She looked up as soon as she saw hand movement. “I’m sorry?”

“I’ll save you the trouble of explaining.” Dr. Gaster’s smile was forced, maintained only so as not to make his host feel guiltier than she clearly already did. Somehow, the shadows under his eye sockets looked even darker. “You do not need to cushion it. I apologize for troubling you. You need not spend any more time on this. Thank you for being honest with me.” He stood, then, and gestured for Alphys to do the same. “You do not need to apologize for not wanting to call, I understand. Please forgive this old skeleton for overstepping the boundary you meant to set. Thank you for the tea. We will take our leave, now. You have a sharp mind; I wish you well on your future endeavors.” He turned. “Alphys?”

“W-Wait,” the lizard monster protested weakly. “I-I-I don’t think…”

Asteri, who had only grown increasingly mortified at the misunderstanding as he had gone on, finally snapped out of her frozen horror and rushed to clarify. “Wait, no! No, no, no, hold on! That’s- That’s not what I meant at all!”

Dr. Gaster turned back to her, unsure, but waited for her to continue.

“I’m absolutely interested in talking more with you!” she blurted, thinking it best to be clear now, then try to save face later. His eyes widened. “I didn’t call because when I talk to my colleagues, the- the unspoken understanding when we say that we’ll be in contact is that we won’t actually contact each other unless something important enough to share is discovered, and even that’s just with peers! Senior researchers?? Y-You don’t contact them unless it’s something BIG! When you said to call you, I didn’t think… you actually… meant… it.“

Her voice grew smaller and smaller as she trailed off. It sounded so stupid to actually say to him. He frowned. Her chest clenched. She couldn’t keep looking at his face, so she just looked at his hands.

“I said I wanted to hear more about your work.”

“I-I know.”

“I asked that you call me.”

“I know.”

“…Multiple times.”

She winced. “I… Yeah. I know.”

A pause. Then: “Ms. Asteri, please look at me.”

She looked up. He… wasn’t mad. If anything, he just looked confused, and a little sad. Her stomach settled slightly.

“I’m not angry with you,” he clarified, just in case. “I just… don’t understand how what I said could have been misunderstood…”

“That’s entirely my fault,” Asteri sighed. “I’m not used to people being genuine. Especially about their interest in my work. And with your… your position, I thought…”

“My position?” The man looked genuinely puzzled. She actually laughed a little.

“Well, yeah. I wasn’t about to just, call up the Royal Scientist to ask if he wants to chitchat! With me of all people!”

Dr. Gaster frowned, still confused. “Why not?”

Her mouth opened, then clicked shut. There wasn’t exactly a good answer to that, was there? “You’re like, super important,” she offered weakly, eyes flicking away again. “You run the CORE, and maintain the phone and internet networks, and… probably a bunch of other important things. Why would you make time to talk to me? I happened to catch you at a good time, before, but I don’t actually have anything helpful to offer. Everyone knows you keep to yourself, so—“

“That is because I have no social skills,” he interrupted.

She almost snorted at the doctor’s deadpan self-awareness. Alphys actually did snort.

“And is companionship, is pleasant conversation not something important to offer?”

Asteri smiled a little, for a second, but it slipped away with a regretful sigh. “I’m sorry, Dr. Gaster.”

He picked up the smile that had fallen from her face. The one he offered her was hopeful, reassuring— and it stuck this time. “I am not upset, Ms. Asteri.”

She looked back up. “No?”

“No.”

“I-I told you!” Alphys whispered to Asteri, who smiled.

Dr. Gaster hesitated, looking almost bashful, before signing again “Am I correct in understanding that you… did enjoy my company, then?”

She blew an almost-laugh through her nose, relieved the tension had mostly passed. “Yes, you’re correct.”

The next question was even more tentative. “And you didn’t call because the current culture in your branch of academia is… no contact unless necessary?”

Bluish green magic collected into a slight blush across her cheeks. “Y-Yes, but I would have called if- if I’d realized you were being sincere.”

“That is… a weight off my mind, I must admit.”

“I‘m sorry for the whole misunderstanding.”

“Really, it’s alright. I am just glad I did not overstep any boundaries.”

Alphys breathed a sigh of relief as Dr. Gaster returned to his seat. “Oh th-thank god. I-If this hadn’t gotten cleared up, it w-would’ve been so awkward all the way back to the lab.”

Asteri slumped back into her chair as the tension bled out of her and wrapped her wings around herself, grabbing her tea with her tail— now back to one single appendage. “I would have had to leave the world’s most anxious voicemail.”

“Heh.” That got a chuckle out of Dr. Gaster, apparently.

“S-So are you guys going to, um, h-hang out now?” Alphys asked, a bit too eager. She had her phone out, Asteri noticed with both amusement and concern, like she was waiting to text someone.

Asteri turned back to the man across from her. “Well, Doctor? Are we?”

Apparently skeletons blushed pink. “If you are not opposed to the idea… I would certainly enjoy hearing more about your work.”

She grinned. “I believe we just established that I’m not opposed.”

“Right, yes. Sorry. I have not slept… well. Lately.”

“You haven’t slept at all, sir,” Alphys chimed in without looking up from where she was rapidly typing on her phone. Dr. Gaster made a noise of mild offense and raised his hands to respond, but she cut him off. “The nap from yesterday doesn’t count.”

Asteri jerked forward. “You haven’t slept? In that long‽”

“Oh…” He smiled crookedly, eyes beginning to droop. “You use interrobangs. How delightful. I haven’t seen one of those in ages…”

Alphys looked up from her phone. The two women exchanged a look.

“Is this a common occurrence?”

“O-Oh, yeah. If he doesn’t, um, have coffee, he starts to crash after a while.”

“Is he even going to make it back to New Home?”

The hand wiggle from Alphys wasn’t particularly reassuring. “We, uh, might have to get him some coffee. B-But I’m sure he’d be fine!”

With a sigh, Asteri stood and addressed each of them individually. “Alphys, I’m going to need your help. Dr. Gaster… consider this the first step in our friendship.”

His eyes opened slightly. “Hmm…?”

“You’re sleeping on my couch.”

- - - -

NOTES

Yeah so this was actually going to be longer but it was so long already. But the good news is that I’m working on part 5 already.

As you can see I’m a “sea tea is cold” truther. Also, hopefully I managed to get across some things about signing, which are that being able to move your hands that quickly can be hard if you’re out of practice (or didn’t practice much to begin with), even if you know the signs; and facial expression is super important. Asteri interpreting Gaster’s comments about her not calling him as flat and judgmental has a lot to do with the fact that she’s avoiding his face, only looking at his hands. Some things don’t translate directly back and forth in sign language, so some of Gaster’s speech patterns are the result of context and how he’s signing. I’m gonna do more research too.

#nothing better for fiction than poor communication skills #I seriously considered making them even worse but ultimately I couldn’t commit to writing that much drama #and ultimately who cares this is for my own enjoyment first and foremost #So my pacing is horrendous sue me.#so the tone shifts too abruptly #what are you gonna do about it?#anyway #interrobangs are just the beginning #Asteri backstory #⁂ fic #seeker oc #asteri #gaster #⁂ gaster #alphys #long post #seeker writes #⁂

8 notes · View notes