Chapter Two
Songs, none of which I own: Dani California-Red Hot Chili Peppers, Semi-Charmed Life-Third Eye Blind, Inside Out-Eve 6
I also do not own Undertale.
I added a cover picture earlier! That's my own personal rendition of Lori on there, so there ya go! Feel free to R&R. This chap is a little bit kinda hinky (good English there, I know.) There's time skips and such ahead...but things will get smoother. This is still kinda introductory stuff.
Thanks for reading!
Lorilai paused and glared at the papers in front of her before reorganizing them into the proper order. She looked up at the small blue ghost on the other side of the glass as she rubbed her fingers on a small block of yellow wax. "We ready?"
Napstablook gave her a small nod. "Whenever you're ready."
Lori rolled her neck and shoulders and grabbed the bow off the music stand and rolled her wrist around with it in her hand a few times. The large headphones over her ears shifted slightly as she got into position behind her cello. She ignored it as she gently rubbed her fingers over the strings and began to draw out the first few low, almost mournful notes. She moved with the tempo of the music, letting it flow through her as she drew the notes forth, glancing up to read the sheet music as needed.
Blooky watched as his friend became one with the music she had agreed to help him record for a mix he was making. She was certainly something else, and he was glad that she wasn't like most other humans. He pressed the button to stop recording as she stopped. "Th-that was great."
She grinned toothily at her friend through the glass. "Thanks. Say, we've been at this a while. You wanna take a break? We could go grab something from Muffet's or something."
Blooky shrugged. It wasn't like he was going to argue with his friend, who, unlike him, needed to eat regularly. She set the cello in its stand and slipped on her sunglasses which, if she was honest, were more for fashion than keeping the sun out of her eyes. She was fairly certain that John Lennon and Ozzy Osbourne, who wore similar glasses, would agree.
Her foot came in contact with the push bar on the door out of the studio and she shoved it open and walked out of it, catching it with her hip to let Blooky out behind her. He followed, and she glanced at the time on her phone before opening up her messages to check the unopened message that she had.
[sans: yo, what was that book you started readin' to paps? he's kept talkin' 'bout it and wants to get a copy.]
She grinned and quickly tapped out her reply as Blooky locked up the studio door.
[Dude, it was "the hobbit". If you promise to be stupid careful with it, you can borrow my copy to keep reading to him at night. I don't mind being a library for my friends. Flowey still has my copy of eragon.]
She slipped her phone back into her back pocket and looked over at Blooky. "So. Muffet's or Grillby's?"
"W-we could go to a h-human restaurant, you know…"
She looked at him funnily. "And deal with those assholes? I'm perfectly willing to come to your defense against...well, anyone really...but I don't want to have to deal with humans thinking that we're infringing on their territory or some shit."
'But it would only be me they would really be objecting to…' Blooky frowned at that thought.
"Blooks?" He looked up and saw his friend's concerned look.
Lori patted his head gently. "C'mon. Let's go pay our favorite hothead a visit."
Thankfully, Grillby's was pretty much just around the corner from the small studio that she had helped Blooky rent, and so the August heat didn't get to take much of a toll on them. The chorus of 'hello's sounded off as some of the regulars recognized one of their own, and she gave a short wave above her head to no one in particular. Her eyes were too focused on the ground of the fairly dimly lit room to notice the familiar figure that was already seated at the bar.
"'sup?"
She looked up and waved as she took a seat to his right, Blooky sitting to her right. "Oh hey. Did you get my text?"
"yeah, but 'm not sure why you let the houseplant borrow your book"
Lori shrugged. "He may be kind of a spoiled, bratty asshole, but I struck up a deal with him. So long as he works on keeping his behaviour and such in check, he can borrow my books so he has something new to read. He gets his love of reading honestly. Tori borrows a book every week or so. So far, he's been doing pretty good. All I have to do when he starts to act out is remind him that if he douches his behaviour up, that he loses book privilege, and he straightens his shit right out."
Sans grunted, impressed that someone other than Frisk had finally gotten through to the flower.
Grillby's came over and took her order, Blooky politely declining to have anything. Lori smiled at him. "So whatcha been up to?"
Sans shrugged. "nothin' much. damage control, mostly. some asshole broke into tori's place last night. and torched her car."
Lori's jaw dropped. "WHAT?! Why the hell did nobody tell me? Shit. Is everyone ok?"
Sans nodded, closing his eyes. "yeah, and tori keeps her car pretty clean, so they didn't lose much. she woke up and went to investigate before much of anything happened in her place. they only really got her purse. she ain't feeling so safe anymore, though. came and spent the rest of the night with me and paps, once she was done talking with the cops."
Lori thanked Grillby for her food and grabbed a fry. "She going back to stay at her place?"
Sans shrugged. "it's only her n the kid, so she isn't really comfortable with the idea, but she might. no tellin' what'll happen to her stuff if she ain't there."
Lori nodded and pulled out her phone, wiping her fingertips on her denim shorts to try to avoid getting so much grease on her screen protector, and tapped out a text.
[Sans told me about what happened last night. You shouldn't have to worry about that kind of stuff on top of everything else. If you want, you and Frisk can move in with me, and I'll tell your jackass slumlord of a landlord to stuff it up his tailpipe. Give me the word, and I'll have a moving van in front of your place in no time, ok?]
Sans glanced over at her. "texting tori?"
Lori set her phone on the counter heavily. "Hells yeah, I was texting Tori. That's totally ridiculous that someone would do that to her." Lori glared at her burger before taking a large, rather "un-ladylike" bite of it. She chewed for a moment before grumbling with a partially full mouth about 'nobody fucking with family' of hers and getting away with it. She looked over at her friend and frowned. "Take Blooks, for example. Somebody fucks with him and I find out about it and I'm on their asses like white on rice. It's the same for any of my friends. You included."
Blooky blushed and smiled softly. "Y-you don't have to…"
Lori stopped with a fry halfway to her mouth and pointed at Blooky using the fry. "Sorry 'bout your luck, sweet pea. I'm gonna anyway." She viciously took a bite of the fry and nodded, her point having been made.
Her phone chimed and she wiped her fingers again before picking it up. "Damn…"
Sans arched a brow bone. "'sup kiddo?" She handed him her phone and grabbed another fry.
[tori: It is perfectly fine, my child. Neither Frisk nor I were hurt, and I cannot impose upon you like that. I have asked Asgore to spend the night on the couch for a week or so, in case the thieves attempt to come back. My insurance will cover replacing my vehicle, so there is no need for you to worry. With Asgore spending the next week at my apartment, I will still have vehicle access until I get my new car. Thank you for your concern, dear.]
Sans looked up at Lori, who seemed fairly unaffected, and handed her back her phone. She tapped out a reply, fairly short, given how quickly she did so, and went about finishing her food. "at least everything is going smoothly, right?"
Lori shrugged. "Yeah, I just wish there was something I could do to help. At least things weren't worse, and the community is close-knit enough that if she needed anything, at least someone would manage to help her, or there would be a group effort of some kind."
Sans nodded, smiling. "yeah, and if i know us, you're considered a member of the monster community. by the humans, too."
"Eh, monsters are nicer around here anyway, so I don't think I'm losing out on much."
He shrugged. "no comment."
She laughed, standing up and dusting crumbs off her outfit. "YO GRILLBS! YOU KNOW THE DEAL, MAN! Anyway, Sans, Blooks and I gotta get back to work or MTT is gonna have our heads for not getting shit done on time. You should tune in to his show on Friday. Ciao!"
He watched as she jogged out the door, the small ghost following close behind. He shook his head and smiled as he returned to his bottle of ketchup.
0-0-0-0-0
The rest of the week had gone smoothly, which Lori thought was incredibly fortunate. This did not, however, put her nerves any more at ease about what was about to happen. She and Blooky glanced at one another and exhaled sharply. "You ready for this, Blooks?"
His blush deepened, which Lori hadn't thought possible. "Y...yeah."
She cleared her throat. "Right...just like we practiced then."
He slowly phased into her body, and she stiffened, a feeling like ice water trailing down her spine catching her by surprise, like every other time.
They hadn't been intending to find this little quirk of human anatomy, but when a horror movie had scared the two of them badly enough that they had jumped and moved to cling to one another, they inadvertently discovered that he could possess her body just like Mettaton possessed his mechanical one, or their cousins had possessed their dummies. He had the advantage of having a copilot that could take over if he wasn't sure how to do something, and someone to reassure him and give him the confidence to maintain possession over a corporeal object, without having to form a permanent attachment.
Lori was willing to help, which made things simpler, she imagined, over having to forcibly possess something for an extended period of time. It wasn't really that bad, actually...it was like she was on autopilot, unless Blooky needed help with anything. Mentally, they just had a conversation. Ultimately, she could exert control over her body if needed, but since Blooky always asked her permission before he did...anything really, there wasn't really any need.
'You good, man?'
'Y-yeah…'
'Right. I'll get to cosmetics then. We don't wanna look bad, or MTT will kill us.'
She rolled her shoulders and approached the vanity where her cosmetics were laid out. "See? This is why I said 'before'."
'O-oh...your eyes…'
She shrugged. "It's whatever. It just changes the colors I use."
She pulled out an iridescent white eyeshadow and red eyeliner, applying them skillfully around her now unearthly blue, glowing eyes. "Light brown and glowey baby blue are two very different colors." She nodded, satisfied that her winged eyeliner was as even as it was going to get. Blooky reached over to grab his headphones and slipped them on around her neck.
'Ready when you are. You're the performer here.'
She snorted. "Does that make you the brains behind this operation? I'm just the gripping power."
She felt his happiness and what she could only describe as a 'cute little internal blush', and smiled, walking out the door to go to the stage.
0-0-0-0-0
Sans and Papyrus couldn't believe what they were seeing. They tuned in like Lori had suggested-not that Papyrus would ever miss The Mettaton Show-and there she was, Lori, waving to the crowd, evidently the guest musician for the show tonight.
But something was wrong.
Her eyes were different. So different that the change was visible out on the far shots.
Her eyes were glowing blue. Blue with magic.
Sans dove for his phone and began demanding that she explain what the hell was going on.
Papyrus was clearly enjoying her performance, which was, Sans had to admit, pretty good. But he recognized the telltale signs of Napstablook's mixes, and spotted his headphones around Lori's neck. 'wha…?'
0-0-0-0-0
Her first set went off without incident, and she slipped her phone out of her pocket once she got off camera, curious to see who had been blowing up her phone.
[sans: what. the fuck. your eyes. explain.]
0-0-0-0-0
[It's nothing bad, I promise. Blooky is just borrowing my hands. I'll explain later, I promise.]
He sighed and shrugged, turning his attention loosely back to the television. 'guess that's all the answer i'm getting, huh?'
The stage lights reflected brightly off of her neon blue and cyan bangs as she jogged back on stage for her next set, stopping behind the turntable and waving, a huge smile spreading across her face, her deep purple lipstick making sure her smile stood out against the pale backdrop of her face.
"Right, so for this part of the show, I thought we'd do something a bit different. Hope you enjoy it."
She got to work like before, but after a lengthy intro, began singing with the tracks, and Sans recognized it as a song off an album that Lori had burned him a copy of when he mentioned that he was looking for new music. He was less focused on the lyrics than he would have liked, more focused on her voice, and the look she was giving the camera that was trained on her face.
I would swallow my pride,
I would choke on the rhymes, but the lack thereof would leave me empty inside.
I would swallow my doubt, turn it inside out,
Find nothin' but faith in nothin'.
Heart in a blender,
Watch it spin round to a beautiful oblivion.
Rendez-vous, then I'm through with you.
I want something else,
To get me through me through this,
Semi charmed kind of life, baby, baby,
I'm not listening when you say,
California, rest in peace,
Simultaneous release.
California, show your teeth.
She's my priestess,
I'm your priest.
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Sans blinked. The lyrics he caught weren't all familiar, and he could tell they weren't from the same song, though he did suppose that, since the ghost was involved, everything that was going on was a remix. Not that any of it sounded bad, especially not with the vocals that Lori was providing. Given the look on Mettaton's face, it isn't what he was expecting out of his cousin either. It was fairly far from his norm, and definitely had a heavy hand from Lorilai in its production.
Her second set was apparently the conclusion to tonight's show, because once she had finished, Mettaton was doing his out-tro, waving with her, and then escorting her off the stage. Papyrus looked back and grinned at him excitedly. "I DID NOT KNOW THE HUMAN WAS SO SKILLED AT MUSIC! WOWWIE!"
Sans nodded and grinned. "yeah, paps. seems like she's full of surprises."
0-0-0-0-0
Time passed fairly quickly after that, between social time with her new friends, and working with Napstablook for follow-up performances. Lori was happy, occupied, and felt welcome and accepted. After finding Asgore on the couch, nobody had bothered Toriel again, much to everyone's relief. The time they spent together that week had brought the king and his former queen closer again, and they were in the beginning stages of courting again, testing the waters to see if there was hope for them after all.
Lori would head over to Sans and Papyrus' place and hang with Frisk and the 'skelebros' as she liked to call them, ensuring that the chills was fed and bathed and put in bed at appropriate times when Toriel and Asgore were out on dates. Frisk and Papyrus would routinely sleep together on those nights, demanding that Lori read their story, going wide eyed and intently curious as she would read more chapters out of The Hobbit.
August left them behind, and so did a good portion of the summer heat. September brought with it a good deal of rain, and a fairly steep drop in temperature. Lori trudged through the puddles and the rain to the studio with Blooky after a late lunch break in that day's recording session, not noticing the figure watching them from the shadows. They unlocked the door and stepped inside, Lori grabbing a towel beside the door to dry off her hair before she slipped off her leather jacket and sat it and the towel in a chair by the door.
Their studio was small, having only the recording room, the room with the tech and the door to the outside, and a small storage closet in the corner of the room beside the computers. It had been a small, local radio station, but due to a lack of funding, they had had to shut down, leaving the place vacant for a number of years, since it had been highly specialized and wasn't able to be repurposed.
Lori took off her boots, slipped her phone on to silent, and headed into the recording room, locking the door behind her out of habit. She sat down to look up at Blooky and ask him what he wanted to work on now, but her smile fell when she looked out the window to the sound bank. Blooky had his back to her, and he was trembling. Her brows furrowed as she peered further around the corner to see what was wrong, and as she noticed the dark figure, knife in hand, her eyes widened in fear.
This is what those rumors had been about. A man, large and intimidating, with a knife. Killing monsters and consuming their remains to try to gain a portion of their magic, stealing their souls...it didn't really matter which version you heard. They were all terrifying possibilities.
Possibilities, apparently, which were based on truth.
Lori hoped silently with a grim face that there wasn't any truth to the part of the stories where the psychopath gained some of their victim's magic. As a ghost, she had found out, Blooky was immune to physical attacks.
If this guy had magic, however…
She pulled out her phone and dialed 911, hiding behind the wall as much as she could. She knew that, thankfully, the recording system hadn't been turned on yet, so she felt confident enough about hazarding a call out of view.
"Nine-One-One, what is your emergency?"
"There's a guy here, threatening my friend with a knife. I'm at 97 East Lorry. Please send help."
She heard a muffled collision on the other side of the door, and gasped as Blooky, injured, came crawling through the wall meekly. She threw her phone down and scrambled to get to him, eyes watering as she assessed the damage.
He looked at her through watery eyes and pulled out his soul, and she gasped as its dim light flickered, and a small crack in the top began to spread.
"H-he can-can't have this. Keep it safe."
Lori paused briefly in her panic, confused at the words her friend spoke. She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, but he acted before she got the chance. Her mouth contorted into a silent scream, pain ripping through her entire being as her dearest friend shoved his soul inside her chest while his form faltered. Lori dropped from her kneeling position to support herself with her hands, weak as her arms were due to the pain, looking up to see her friend mouth a silent 'good-bye' as he turned to dust.
Tears streamed down her face and she choked on her breath as slamming on her door snapped her back to reality. The dense metal door was apparently holding their attacker at bay somewhat, but from the looks of things, he just about had the door off of its hinges. She winced, fighting the pain to stand and fight.
'Blooky…'
Another hit and the door gave way. Her attacker was slow to enter the room, and Lori took what she saw as her opportunity, and sent her knuckles full force into his throat. He staggered and dropped the knife, gasping meekly for air as she shoved past him, running for the door. She didn't look back as she ran out the door into the rain, barefoot and thoroughly disheveled. She got across the street and explained the situation, sighing with relief as the police arrived, as well as an ambulance.
The officers went in, guns ready, and several walked back out and got on their radios, the paramedics running in to take their place. She walked outside and greeted the officers, explained the situation and her part in it, and asked if she could put her shoes on.
She frowned as one of the paramedics came out and whispered something in the officer's ear. He sighed and looked at her. "Unfortunately, no. We've got a bit of a problem."
She paused and fidgeted. "What seems to be the problem, Officer?"
"The paramedics confirmed that that was indeed monster dust, so this place was a crime scene to begin with. But…"
"But…?"
He sighed. "If what you said happened actually happened...then you just killed someone."
Her jaw dropped in shock as he gathered her hands behind her and zip tied them in place, reciting her rights as tears streamed down her face before escorting her to the car.
Kinda funny, the various things that can jeopardize your whole way of life. Like five minutes one Friday afternoon.
