MagiStream

A small smile appeared on Alia's face when she saw how happy Mira seemed talking about her dog, though she felt nervous when Mira continued and suggested she might see him someday. Since the dog was no doubt still on the surface, in order for Alia to see him, she would have to be back on the surface. Alia didn't like the idea of being back on the surface. She wanted to be here, with the monsters!

But how could she tell Mira that? She didn't want to upset her, after all, and as far as she could tell, Mira seemed to like the idea of going back to the surface. "Oh, he sounds nice," Alia replied, managing to keep the small smile on her face. Perhaps the best course of action here was to just not respond to the part about going to the surface at all.

Chara seemed to guess Alia's reasoning, and smiled reassuringly at her. Though, they also seemed a bit nervous... Alia wondered if they were worried that Mira was going to try to cross the barrier... After all, in order for someone to cross the barrier, they would apparently need both a human Soul and a monster Soul... But, Mira seemed too nice to actually take any of the monsters' Souls! Surely she would never actually consider that. Perhaps she was just hopeful that someday the barrier would somehow break and then she could return to the surface that way. Right, that must be it. Alia sent a reassuring smile of her own back at Chara when she was sure Mira wasn't paying attention.

Alia listened to Mira humming as she drew, the calming sound helping her relax again. By the time Mira spoke up to show her the drawing, Alia had more or less calmed down, and she looked over curiously. Alia smiled as she looked at Mira's drawing of a giraffe, quietly speaking up, "It looks great!"

Alia's smile grew as Mira complimented her drawing of a crow, "Thanks. And yeah, it's a crow." She felt happy Mira liked her drawing, and she hoped Sans and Papyrus would like it, too. It had been quite comforting to be able to just draw for awhile, so Alia was in better spirits now rather than being extremely nervous as she had been at first. She was still a bit nervous, naturally, but it certainly didn't seem like Mira would suddenly start acting like the humans from the surface after she'd put in the effort to draw with Alia for awhile.


........

Gaster smiled at Papyrus's amazement, feeling rather pleased that he had managed to impress both his sons by talking about the stars. Truly, it was a wonderful feeling to be back here again, though he still felt quite remorseful over the steps he had taken earlier to try to return. If he had succeeded... Surely both of his sons would have been furious with him for taking their new friend's Soul. And he really wouldn't have blamed them for it, now that he was thinking clearly again.

Mentally shaking off the thought, Gaster refocused on the conversation. Gaster grinned as Papyrus said he would show him some puzzles; he was quite eager to see the puzzling masterpieces he had created in person. Perhaps it would even spark some ideas of Gaster's own. Not for capturing humans, though, obviously.

Gaster felt excited when Papyrus suggested making a puzzle to test his magic. "That sounds like an excellent idea. I'd be honored to test a new puzzle for you." Gaster really hadn't had many opportunities to test his magical abilities recently due to being trapped in the Void... Well, aside from the short battle of sorts when he tried to take Mira's Soul, but the less he dwelled on that, the better.

Anyway, he was looking forward to testing his abilities in a way that wouldn't get anyone hurt.

"Which puzzle are you proudest of?" Gaster asked curiously, happy to listen to his sons talk about things they enjoyed, especially considering he hadn't been able to in so long...

Mira really was doing her best to show Alia that everything would be alright and that she was a safe person to talk with despite still being mostly a stranger in a sense, her hoping that the fact that they were both human might hopefully encourage her to be a bit more open on stuff that was bothering her.

Alia clearly was hiding a -lot- of mixed feelings under her cute little smile and Mira, being the mother figure that she was, really wanted to see the girl realize that she was safe down here and that monsters would protect her from any bad situations she had been in on the surface.

She had thought that maybe talking about her dog would help Alia to settle in a bit more and understand that she could talk about any surface type stuff that she may have had a harder time on talking about with Sans or Papyrus, Mira tempted to ask the bro’s at some point if they knew anything about creatures on the surface at all themselves as she observed Alia’s picture of a crow.

“Would you like to go show everyone else?~ I bet Sans will even put it on the fridge to show off!”, Mira truly thinking that Alia had made a wonderful picture for her age of her favorite animal, sure, a crow was a bit off a odd choice for someone as young as them but it clearly showed Alia had put thought into what she liked best, “Come on, I bet they are done talking for now~”.

...............


Papyrus was becoming much more used to the presence of this extra skeleton by now as he casually talked with Gaster about how he created his puzzles and the like which had used to be for ‘trapping humans’ a long while back, The previous human, Frisk, that had fallen showing kindness to all monsters though and giving little need for such ‘barbarity’ these days.

Regardless, in the limited entertainment of the Underground they were still fun to create, Hotland especially having plenty of them controlled by various monsters who swapped out parts at ease as a literal job.

Testing Gaster’s magic would be a perfect opportunity to truly built a confounding puzzle that wouldn’t quite be on a human child’s level to solve. The gears in Papyrus’s mind were already spinning by now as he really wanted a way to impress his father after all this time of...well, assuming he was dead.

Did Papyrus have some self confidence issues? Perhaps....but he really wanted to show that he deserved the title of the ‘great’ Papyrus.

“Mmm, a very good question indeed...”, Papyrus rubbing his non existent chin in thought as he gave Sans the chance to ask anything he may have wanted in the meantime, there was still the fact that the only ones who knew Gaster had returned was him, Alphys, and Papyrus, Asgores eventual reaction sure to be...interesting once he found out what had transpired.

After spending awhile drawing with Mira, Alia was feeling much more comfortable around her, having seen that she was a lot more caring than the humans she'd interacted with on the surface. Most of her nervousness had faded by now, with only a slight bit of paranoia remaining in her mind that somehow, Alia might accidentally annoy Mira to the point of her not wanting to be around her anymore. Alia really didn't want that to happen, though fortunately Mira seemed quite understanding so far, so she wasn't really as worried about it as she had been.

Alia's eyes widened hopefully when Mira suggested Sans would put her drawing on the fridge. Her parents had never put any of her artwork on the fridge, and probably would have just gotten annoyed if she'd suggested it. "Really?" Alia had never thought she would see her drawings displayed proudly on a fridge, but as she recalled how Sans had helped her earlier... She thought Mira might, just maybe, be right about this.

The very idea made her smile grow. Despite just meeting him that day, Sans had really been acting a lot more like a parent than her actual parents had... Though, Alia doubted she would ever have the courage to voice that thought aloud. Even so, deep down inside, she was starting to see him as a father figure. If her drawing was really good enough to make him proud... It would probably be one of the happiest moments of her life.

She nodded, excited with a small hint of nervousness, when Mira suggested going back to check on the skeletons and showing them their drawings. Alia followed Mira with a smile. She really hoped the skeletons would like her drawing.

Chara smiled at her, already knowing they would love it. They were certain Sans would put the drawing on the fridge, too. Seeing how hopeful Alia looked made Chara happy; it seemed like she had found a family she wanted to be part of, just as they had felt when the Dreemurrs took them in. They were glad for her, remembering how they had felt the day they first fell into the Underground, and figuring she was probably feeling exactly the same.


.........

Gaster felt happier than he could recall being for a very long time, finally able to chat with his sons again and listen to Papyrus talk about his puzzles. As Papyrus considered the answer to his question, Gaster waited patiently for him to decide, or for Sans to speak up.

....

Sans waited awhile for Papyrus to reply, but seeing he seemed lost in thought about which puzzle he was proudest of, Sans eventually asked Gaster a few more questions about astronomy. Of course, he didn't want to bring up anything relating to what had happened in the Void around Papyrus, so Sans couldn't continue their earlier conversation now, even if he'd wanted to, which he certainly didn't feel prepared for although he knew it would have to happen at some point.

Besides, things were actually somewhat peaceful now, and Sans didn't want to ruin that, considering how few and far between peaceful moments tended to be in his experience. Anyway, regardless of what he had done in the past, Gaster had promised to never do anything like that again, and surely Sans could trust him, right?

Sans couldn't shake a slight feeling of uncertainty that this peaceful moment might not last as long as he'd like it to, though. Which worried him, because he wasn't sure why. Was it Flowey? Sure, Flowey had been acting civil, perhaps even somewhat nice, because of Alia. But there was a very real chance he would act the same as he always did when she wasn't around. What if he still was planning to attack Mira?

Managing to stop thinking along that train of thought for now, so his worry wouldn't show in his expression, Sans just listened as Gaster answered his questions.

Mira would have never admitted it in a million years but she could feel herself growing closer to Sans over the time she had been here, the skeleton showing her true kindness with a silly undertone and seemingly being one of the first to recognize that she was missing after he exploring and locating her in the Void by chance.

If Sans haven’t thought to locate the mysterious door she had so stupidly entered...well, she would have likely been a mere husk by now and Gaster would have eventually regained control over his form with or without Sans help, her Soul being connected with the scientists own in perpetual torment.

No, Mira didn’t want to think of such horrific things, her mind already being rattled enough with everything else that was going on as of late and wanting to focus on caring for Alia specifically.

She needed to put her budding feelings for Sans aside and realize that it was likely just her being happy that he cared for her and all. H-he was a skeleton on top of that! Just because he could make her laugh and her cheeks flush when she talked to him didn’t m-mean....

“Of course!~ Such a amazing drawing deserves to have a prime place in the kitchen~”, Mira smiling at Alia as she led the young girl down to the living room where the rest of the skeletons were waiting, she did feel a small sense of unease when she saw Gaster but smiled kindly at the group of monsters regardless.

“I hope we aren’t interrupting anything, but Alia here has something she would like to show you~”, Mira nudging Alia a tiny bit as she knew the girl was shy, perhaps she was a bit more open with Sans at least? She could hope, her sensing that the pair likely had a quick bond going just as she did with the skeleton.

Mira personally had no reason to be afraid of monsters any longer for the most part, but still...her time down here had been fraught with one thing after the other, from falling ill to nightmares to creeping into a would that was beyond the boundaries of this one. Hopefully Alia would be able to have many more adventures and the like, but as for Mira she had more than enough for a lifetime.

Little did the pair know though that things were going to get worse before they got better, human Souls being inevitably valuable for destroying the barrier. Alphys hadn’t been able to gayness the power of determination filled by herself, but there was always Gaster to be worried about now, a former royal scientist and the current working together not being the best sign for the humans own future.

Alia smiled at Mira's compliment, feeling happy that she liked the drawing so much. It was a very unusual feeling, to have people complimenting her art. In fact, she didn't really show people her drawings at all, aside from earlier when she had drawn Sans, Papyrus, and Chara in the snow. And now, of course. Alia was used to keeping her drawings to herself, so she wouldn't bother anyone; maybe now, though, she could start showing them more often to this family that had kindly taken her in. "Thank you," Alia said cheerfully, her usual shyness disappearing for a few moments as she followed Mira to the living room.

Of course, her shyness returned again as they entered the living room, since she still wasn't used to larger groups, and besides, she hadn't spoken much with Gaster yet and didn't really know much about him. Nonetheless, Alia managed a small smile directed at the skeletons, nervously holding up the drawing she had made of a crow when Mira nudged her. She glanced at each of the skeletons hopefully, especially Sans.

"that looks amazing, kid!" Sans said, smiling encouragingly. Alia felt overjoyed.

"Thank you, it's a crow!" Alia explained happily, relieved that Sans liked her drawing, just like Mira had said he would.

"Ah, very well done, child," Gaster said, examining the drawing and appearing impressed. "You have an eye for detail."

"Thank you, sir," Alia replied, still feeling a bit too awkward around the almost complete stranger to not be overly formal. Still, she seemed happy that he liked the drawing as well.

"wanna put it on the fridge?" Sans asked, still smiling encouragingly at Alia. She beamed at him and nodded, her eyes shining. So Mira really had been right about that! Alia was almost convinced she was dreaming... How else could she explain how different things were here in the Underground compared to her life on the surface?

And the humans claimed the monsters were the cruel ones. Alia couldn't understand how they got that idea, when all the monsters were so kind- even Flowey, who had been rather rude at first, was being relatively nice now. Perhaps it was simply the humans' way of justifying their horrible treatment of the monsters in trapping them under a mountain. Convincing themselves monsters were evil probably made it easier for them to think they were merely protecting themselves.

.....

Chara smiled at Sans and Gaster's positive reactions to Alia's drawing. They could tell this had given Alia some confidence, as she was speaking less shyly now despite the group. And they could tell that Sans' reaction especially had helped her a lot. 'Thank you, Comedian,' they thought, since unfortunately he would not be able to hear them if they tried to thank him aloud.

.....

Sans was glad to see Alia was comfortable enough to speak up in front of the group now, and show them the drawing she had made. Smiling at Mira gratefully since she had clearly found a way to help Alia relax, he was starting to relax somewhat himself. Most of his worries faded away for now, and while he knew they would be back soon enough, he tried to just enjoy the moment.

Sans thought that putting Alia's drawing on the fridge might help her feel more at home here, and he was glad to see the idea seemed to have worked, though he was also a bit concerned by how overjoyed she seemed by the seemingly simple suggestion. While he'd guessed she'd had a rather rough time on the surface, he was starting to wonder if she'd had anyone around to support her there. If no one had shown much interest in her drawings before... And the way she'd seemed almost hurt when Papyrus had called her a 'baby', as though she had to take on so much responsibility that the term was an insult... Had she been trying to take care of herself all on her own?

Right then and there, even if it was almost entirely subconsciously, Sans decided he was going to make sure he was always there for Alia when she needed him. After all, he understood how having to take care of yourself from a young age could feel. Ever since Gaster had disappeared when he was still quite young, Sans had basically had to act like an adult, taking a job as a sentry and learning how to take care of Papyrus when he wasn't even that much older than him himself. Of course, Sans would do the exact same thing over again if he had to, since he wanted Papyrus to have the best life he could. That didn't change the fact it had been tough, though, balancing so many new responsibilities so suddenly.

So he didn't want Alia to feel like she had to take care of herself entirely alone anymore, if that was indeed the case.

Mira had never felt this kind of strange warmth before that she was feeling with Alia, something about the child seeming to raise every instinct in her own body to ‘grow up a bit’ and realise that she had a duty, spoken or not, to protect this human girl and someday get her home to the surface once...well, hopefully things worked out in the end...

Mira really was doing her best to add a -human touch- to the countless hours, weeks, and years that had been put towards finding a way to break the barrier, but lacking a dedicated scientific mind she could only really aid in archival type work and occasionally give info on how life on the surface worked rather than be a sustainable force.

Caring for Alia was so strange...it really almost made her feel as if she had finally found a purpose in life for herself that didn’t revolve around simply surviving day to day and hoping to give bits of info to Sans and Alphys who really knew what they were doing. Alia was by no means -her- child obviously....but in a way Mira felt she kind of -was- in a loving and protective motherly sense.

“That’s better work than even I could do, Alia!”, Papyrus praising their young human friend as she showed off her image of a crow in the living room to her newfound family, the now back to his usual but still odd self skeleton felt a sense of pride in the fact that Alia was becoming brave enough to show them small things like this and was breaking out of her shell despite her shyness.

Mira not nearly picking up on the fact that Alia’s excitement over being able to put her drawing on the fridge was a bit odd as Sans seemed to do, all she saw was a young girl that was finally receiving the love in her life that she had seemingly been lacking for quite a while, the truly ‘monster sized’ love of three skeletons and a human (and one child ghost) being bound to give Alia all the love and support she would need from now on.

“Alright, how about we get this lovely artwork on the fridge and perhaps after you can help me and Papyrus prepare dinner~ Does that sound good?”, Mira practically being able to hear the gears in Papyrus’s skull chugging excitedly along as Mira asked Alia if she wanted to cook with them, she also figured it would be a much needed chance for Sans and Gaster to...have some time together to figure out where things would go from here.

After all, it didn’t seem that anyone but a handful of monsters knew he had returned from a literal Void in reality, and from what she could deduce Sans seemed to be scientifically minded enough to potentially be on the same level of intellect Gaster was.

....How was the King going to react to a former Royal scientist just appearing out of thin air? Would he welcome his old friend with open arms? Would he even -remember- Gaster?

It was a conversation that Sans and Gaster would need to have without Papyrus unfortunately due to the skeletons lack of knowledge on resets and how it had effected his siblings mind for all these years, Mira not knowing -that- deeply about her friends life yet but just getting the gut feeling her, Alia, and Papyrus simply working to make dinner together would give them time to privately talk things over.

Alia's first instinct was to reassure Papyrus that his art was excellent, though since he hadn't actually shown her anything he'd drawn yet, he might not believe her if she said that. Besides, she figured he was simply trying to compliment her drawing, so even if it was a bit awkward to accept praise that downplayed his own abilities, Alia just smiled at him. "I'm glad you like it!" It was still a bit of a surprise to her that they all liked her drawing, though certainly a good surprise!

Alia felt slightly nervous when Mira suggested she help her and Papyrus make dinner. She still was afraid she would somehow ruin it, having never made anything particularly complex for a meal before. She didn't want to disappoint this kind family by accidentally messing up the meal, even though they all seemed nice enough that they would not get mad at her for it.

On the other hand, Papyrus seemed so excited about the idea of the trio cooking together, and Alia didn't want to disappoint him by saying no. 'Maybe if I'm just really careful,' Alia thought, hoping that maybe, she would be able to help them cook without messing up. 'After all, they wouldn't try to make anything too difficult with me helping, would they?' She doubted they would want a ruined meal, after all, so they probably wouldn't give her any tasks that were too important to how the meal turned out.

"Do not worry, Alias. It will be fine. And I will help as much as I can." Chara spoke up, smiling reassuringly at Alia. Their words helped Alia relax and regain her confidence. Even if being a ghost meant they couldn't technically help her with cooking, they could give her advice. And their advice had gotten her through many difficult situations before. She smiled back at them.

Turning back to Mira, Alia nodded. "Sure."

.....

Sans could tell Alia was rather nervous about helping to cook something, even if she was clearly trying to hide it. Most likely, he guessed, she was worried about messing up. After a bit, though, she seemed to relax, and again it seemed like it happened after she looked at seemingly nothing. Sans was by now almost certain she had an imaginary friend, but since it seemed like they were helping her, somehow, he decided not to worry about it.

Besides, if Papyrus, Mira, and Alia were all going to be cooking together... Sans would probably have to end up having that conversation with Gaster sooner rather than later. Well, he really shouldn't put it off, he supposed, even if he would have liked a chance to think things over first, which he really hadn't had much of a chance to do at all today.

Anyway, Gaster seemed to have come to the same conclusion as he had, so there was definitely no getting out of it at this point. And Sans knew there were other things they needed to discuss as well, like how to deal with the surprised and shocked reactions that were sure to meet Gaster's sudden reappearance. Since really only himself and Alphys remembered much of anything about Gaster at all, most people were likely to be very confused when he seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Sans sighed inwardly. Yeah, this was definitely a conversation that needed to happen now. At least Papyrus, Mira, and Alia wouldn't have to worry about it.

Managing to hide the uncertainty he felt, he smiled at the others and headed towards the kitchen. As important as the conversation might be, he wasn't going to miss out on seeing Alia put her drawing on the fridge. Alia smiled and followed close behind him, looking very excited about having her art on the fridge. Gaster followed a few moments later, nodding at Sans in indication that they should talk once she was finished, and Sans nodded back.

.....

Soon, Alia was standing before the fridge, Sans standing nearby and watching patiently as she decided where to put her drawing. Chara floated at her other side, smiling. After a minute or so of thought, Alia had found what seemed like the perfect spot for it; an empty space that was low enough for her to reach without needing to be lifted up. She held her drawing up to it and looked at Sans, hoping he would get one of the refrigerator magnets for her since they were a bit out of her reach.

"watch this, kid," Sans said with a grin, and one of the magnets suddenly started floating. Alia watched in amazement as it moved over to where she was holding the drawing, finally stopping when it reached the paper and holding it in place.

"Wow!" Alia said, looking amazed. She grinned up at Sans. "That was so cool!"

Sans chuckled. "thanks kid."

"Thank you," Alia replied happily. She looked back at the fridge with a smile, then at Chara, who was smiling as well.

This was all a bit strange still to think about, but it seemed that Mira really was having herself a little family whether she had expected it or not, her never in a million years having thought that she would end up getting mixed in the drama of a skeleton family that had been trapped underground for who knows how long with a young child to boot.

Still, it was peaceful in a way….it was obvious that there was a lot of love to go around regardless of the issues that came with being virtual prisoners, Mira determined to show that in her own way to young Alia seeing as the girl was clearly a shy but fun loving human who had likely wound up down here in the same way she had.

Mira did have her own, unsure emotions about all of this happening so fast, but in the end she wasn’t going to let them show. Her main focus as said before was caring for Alia and showing her that she was now safe in a little family that would fight to the death to keep her safe…..

Besides Alia though, there was still one thing that was itching at the back of Mira’s mind….

Namely, Sans, who she could tell by this point was using his smile as a way to hide…something going on in his mind, her really wanting to get to the bottom of this but not wanting to intrude on her friends business seeing as he clearly didn’t want to talk about it. Mira didn’t take Sans as the kind to trust others easily and she took it as a honor that they were the best of friends right now.

He really seemed like he could use someone to talk with though on whatever was bothering him, Mira heavily debating on it as she led Alia to the kitchen so they could begin making dinner together. Maybe later she would casually ask Sans if he had anything on his mind about everything that had gone on in these past few days?? Sure, she was luckily unaware of resets, but Mira wanted to be the type of close friend he could trust with a secret if he really did spill some true emotions.

“How would you like to get the things from the fridge we will need?~”, Mira’s eyes almost seeming to be sparkling with happiness as she tried to ease Alia’s nerves a bit about trying something new, Papyrus nodded in agreement as he decided to let Mira take the flow for once to see how she interacted with Alia so he could learn better communication.

Mira scribbling a little list down for Alia as Sans found a spot for her drawing on the fridge that was perfect for her crow, Papyrus went to find the right pans they would need as their youngest new member of the house was in awe over Sans bit of magic use.

It really was a adorable sight to be honest, Alia appearing to be truly smiling at the way Sans was able to move the magnet with his magic like a party trick.

“A perfect place for a perfect drawing~ Now, here, I bet you can find all this stuff, right?”, Mira handing the list of foods to Alia, she also included a little drawing by each in case she didn’t know what spices were which, “Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it~”.

“Alia is quite intelligent! I’m sure she will be able to find them in record time!”, Papyrus speaking from the stove as he was putting a pot of water to boil, for all the odd ways he talked he really did see great potential in Alia in every sort of way, “How about it? Perhaps we make a time game out this??”.

When Mira suggested Alia gather some of the ingredients for the meal, she nodded without hesitation. That seemed safe enough; Alia was sure she could find ingredients for the others without causing any problems. It wasn't something where she could mess up the meal at any rate, since she was just finding things for the others rather than trying to actually make something she'd never made before. She actually felt rather hopeful that in this way, she could help Mira and Papyrus out without risking ruining anything, and she smiled brightly at Mira for making the suggestion.

Truthfully, Alia was quite relieved that Mira had found a way to include her without putting her under much pressure. It was quite unusual for Alia to be having people taking her feelings into consideration like this; in fact, before today she'd been basically on her own, trying to figure everything out by herself. But now, Mira seemed to be looking out for her the way a mother should, between this and drawing with her earlier to help her relax. The only other time she'd really experienced someone treating her in a motherly way was when she met Toriel, though it didn't feel right considering Toriel as her mother because Toriel was Chara's mom and Alia didn't want to get in the way of that. Besides, someday, hopefully soon, Alia would find a way to help Toriel and Chara communicate again, and then they could be the family they were supposed to be. So it was really better if Alia found her own place now.

And it was starting to feel like the place she belonged was here, with Mira and the skeletons. They were all so nice- even if she didn't know much about Gaster yet he seemed nice enough and she figured they would become friends as time went on- and somehow, being here just felt right.

....

Sans, seeing that Alia seemed comfortable with her role of finding ingredients for Mira and Papyrus as they cooked, now felt alright following Gaster out of the room to talk. Well, he was still a bit uncertain about having the conversation now, but it didn't have anything to do with leaving Alia to help the others cook, at least. So, he gave Alia another encouraging smile, explained he would be talking with Gaster but would be back in a bit, and then waved to the three before following Gaster back out of the kitchen.

The two headed to Sans' lab, since they could talk there without anyone overhearing, and then Sans took a few moments to figure out how to start the conversation. The easier issue to deal with would be how to explain Gaster's sudden reappearance, so that was what he chose. "well, aside from dr. alphys and myself, almost everyone seems to have completely forgotten about you. so you'll probably have a lot of explaining to do when it comes to the others."

Gaster nodded, having come to that conclusion himself when he realized Papyrus had no idea who he was when they ran into each other outside Alphys' lab. "I figured as much. I suppose I'll just explain that I disappeared due to an experiment gone wrong where I ended up falling into the CORE. As far as my return, we can just say you found a way to fix the machine and bring me back from the Void. I would... Prefer not to mention my, um, unfortunate decision in the Void..."

"i'd rather not either," Sans replied, frowning slightly at the reminder.

Gaster looked guilty again. "I'm sorry, Sans."

Sans simply nodded, knowing there was no way to go back and change what had happened- unless Flowey decided to reset or load a save, but Sans figured that would probably just turn out even worse- and continued. "that does bring up something else we need to talk about, though. dr. alphys showed me something you were working on... a determination extraction machine."

Gaster looked down guiltily once more. "Ah, right..."

"i'm worried about her. she... seemed to want an evil human to show up, so she could use the machine on them. i'm sure she'd listen to you if you told her it's not a good idea."

Gaster looked slightly surprised for a moment, but then nodded. "I'll speak with her later."

.....

Alia waved to Sans and Gaster as they left the kitchen. While she would have preferred Sans staying, she figured she would be alright getting ingredients for the meal. She figured the conversation was probably important, and besides, she still had Chara with her if she needed someone to help her calm down. Which she hopefully wouldn't, since things seemed like they were going alright now.

Accepting the list of ingredients from Mira, Alia looked over it quickly, recognizing several of them though she was a bit confused about some of the spices since she'd never really worked with those before. She nodded at Mira again with a smile, feeling determined to find everything they needed to make the meal. Though she would feel awkward asking for help, she would do so if she really couldn't figure out where some of the spices were. After all, she wanted this meal to turn out well!

She felt a bit nervous when Papyrus suggested making it a game to see how fast she could find everything. Alia had never been a fan of timed challenges. It always made her feel extremely pressured, and under pressure she was more likely to make mistakes... 'Stop! If you panic, you'll be more likely to mess up! Calm down...' Alia told herself, looking anxiously at Chara in hopes they would reassure her.

"Alias, breathe! It is alright. They will not be mad if you say no." Chara said, looking very concerned but smiling reassuringly since they could tell she needed it.

Alia figured they were right, but still... She didn't want to disappoint Papyrus by refusing his idea... Maybe she would be alright if she tried to ignore the time pressure aspect of this and just focused on finding the ingredients? But would she actually be able to do that, or would the pressure at the back of her mind cause her to mess up? Most of the stuff, she should be able to find, but the spices... She'd never even seen most of them before, at least from what she could recall...

Chara seemed to guess Alia was unwilling to refuse, and thought for a bit, trying to quickly come up with a way to help her with this task. "Alright, how about you find the things you know how to find, and I will find the ones you do not, and point them out to you?" That should decrease the pressure she was under somewhat, at least. Alia nodded at them, smiling in clear relief. "Okay... How about we start with the spices. Do you recognize any of them?" Alia shook her head nervously. "I will find them, then. What about the rest? Is there anything else you need me to find?" Alia looked back at the list, reading over it a few times before shaking her head again, this time confidently. "Okay. I am ready when you are," Chara said, smiling at Alia, determined to help her through this.

Alia smiled back, then turned back to Mira and Papyrus, and nodded. "Okay."

Mira really thinking that Alia would be capable of handling finding a few ingredients on her own, it was really just a small task to test her independence seeing as she appeared to just be a very shy, uneasy child who likely needed the help in learning that they wouldn’t get in trouble if they ended up needing said help.


She wasn’t a teacher or anything even close, but Mira was doing what felt right in order to make Alia feel more accomplished in performing tasks to build up her confidence, her kindness Soul aiding her in being soft with Alia to build up the trust that was needed for such a previously neglected child.


Of course, she had no idea that Alia was getting -help- from a source no one but her could see….

“I believe in you, human! If you do need help though do not be afraid to ask!”, Papyrus seeing Alia as a smart, cunning little human rather than the oddity he had begun to look at her as earlier due to -two- whole humans having fallen down in such a short amount of time, he had initially thought there was a sort of suspicion around it simply due to its unlikeliness, “A-and also, it doesn’t need to be a game if it makes you uneasy!”.


Papyrus looking at Mira for confirmation they he had said the right thing as the girl nodded and smiled content, the skeleton seemed quite relieved that his offer of turning this into a game didn’t mean it was automatically put in place, him having a bad habit of his suggestions often being taken for fact due to the way he often spoke in full assurance of himself and his ideas.


“You take all the time you need, dear~”, Mira going to get some items prepped along with Papyrus as Chara gave Alia all the help she would seemingly need, hopefully the cute little doodles she had put besides each name would assist the child, Mira naturally looking back curiously at Alia as she actually agreed to this little time task of Papyrus’s.


Why did she get the odd feeling that there was more than just the three of them in this kitchen as she glanced back though? It wasn’t as if she thought this house was haunted or something, but she -did- live with monsters…which kind of met that ghosts were not -entirely- out of the realm of possibility….


It was just a feeling in the back of her mind that she couldn’t quite brush away fully, Mira trying to stick to the task at hand as she instead tried to put her hope into if Sans conversation in the next room over was going well or not.


There was clearly some sort of tension between the three skeletons and the sooner it was able to be sorted out the better they would all be, Mira really just wanting this little but increasing family to be able to live in peace despite the odd and unnerving events of the past few days.


She….wasn’t quite so sure of either Gaster or Alphys yet though….on one hand they both seemed intelligent and kind, but on the other….


“Alright, time starts now if your ready~!”, Mira getting a bit of a mischievous look in her eyes as she tried to focus on Alia and this little time game they had planned, she would ask Sans later on if he got the same odd vibe that Alphys was up to something, “Annnd, go!~”.