A/N: Somebody pointed out that Napstablook is usually referred to with gender neutral pronouns, which I completely missed, but yup, it's that way. I adjusted the previous chapter somewhat to reflect that.
Chapter 10: Cooking with Love
'...and things like that really shine a light down on parts I could only theorize on. And no, you're not that bland. Some of the stuff you've said is encouraging, odd as it may seem. Maybe it's because there haven't been many I could speak to like this or maybe I'm just weird.
'There is one more thing I wanted to write about. Back when you signed up for this account, that thumbprint scan included some magical scanning. Sorry, it's for security sake and is tied to making sure it's you signing in to the lab. But, there were a few numbers that didn't line up normally. The pattern they formed indicated that you're not a monster, but a human.
'Don't worry, though! I'm not against you, although that does kind of mean that you can't really hold the job I first offered you. Other than that, I don't have any negative feelings towards you. I actually rather admire humans and all the things you create. All the things people think I've invented are actually just me copying and adapting what humans have made. A lot of things you humans throw out end up down here one way or another. The advancements in televisions, cameras, computers, phones, lights, and all that, I didn't make myself. But people think I did.
'Sorry if that comes across as complaining. My point is, I'm glad I get to talk with you like this and I'm curious what all you know. And when you do reach a point when you leave the Ruins, feel free to message me any time for help. Every day, it seems like more monsters are joining on the bandwagon to make war against humans no matter how it must be forced. You'll be in great danger if you leave. But then, you're right in that you'll need to reach the barrier's origin in order to break it. I know a few people that I might be able to convince into helping you out too, although I'm not the best person to be doing that. Still, it'd be a great deal easier if we had those others to help sneak you around the other monsters with.
'Did you have any plans as to avoid attention while traveling through the underground?
'From Alphys'
She had figured him out from a magical scan? It made Frisk curious as to how. It could simply be a check for what kind of monster since there was a large variety. Although, even finding that out from a scan in an email was impressive. At least Alphys seemed to be on his side still. Maybe that even made her more likely to be a friend of his since she had a strong interest in humans. That much was obvious from all her posts about various animes and technologies.
He was thinking through his reply to her when Toriel paused in her study of cookbooks to ask a question. "Frisk, I was wondering, are there any treats from the human world that you remember fondly?"
"I'd have to think on that," he asked, setting his tablet down in his lap. Chocolate chip cookies were on his mind, mostly because they were in the oven now. "Why do you want to know?"
Pacing in front of the bookshelf, she said, "I was thinking about that cooking contest. They said you were allowed three entries? Well I can come up with two ideas, but I want something really special for at least one, even if I need to experiment some to get a good result. I just need somewhere to start."
"Ah." Something special... it reminded him of something the Sunbeam club had made during a fall festival, the last one when he and Jackie had been dating. On that festival day, there was a crack in his emotions and it had really felt like they were in love, on a romantic day out. He'd wanted to make her happy and special because she'd done her best to make him feel special... kicking up crinkling colorful leaves while holding her hand, it was a time insulated from his darkness. "Caramel apples?"
"Sounds interesting, what is that?" she asked.
"It's pretty simple. You melt some caramel, put a stick into an apple, dip the apple in the caramel, then let it dry. And sometimes, it gets rolled in crushed nuts when the caramel is soft. It usually gets made as a treat for festivals or parties when the apples are in season."
Putting her hand to her chin, Toriel thought it over. "Hmm, that does sound nice. I wonder how that would work as a pie, if you made the caramel into a spiced sauce."
"That sounds really good," Frisk said, smiling at the thought. It was great to be able to taste things properly again.
"I could give it a try," she said, only to be interrupted by a knock on the front door. "Who could that be?" she wondered, going over to answer. "Hello?"
Frisk got out of his chair to come over too, unsure what monster around would be bold enough to knock on their door. It turned out to be one that caused some faint memories; not the individual, but a similar one. Waiting there with no fear at all, there was a spider monster that was nearly as tall as Toriel. His black limbs were covered in bristly fur and his fore legs were quite muscular. But any roughness was tempered by the fact that he was wearing a long yellow scarf, a gray suit jacket, and matching pin-striped pants.
"Hello my dear friends," the spider said, bowing courteously. "You were Toriel and Frisk, correct? Well I am Lupin Weaver, it's a pleasure to be able to speak with you at last."
"That's right," Toriel said with a warm smile. She pushed the door fully open. "Then, you must be one of the spiders around here? Congratulations on your transformation."
Lupin nodded. "Thank you, but really, thank you both from the depths of my heart." He brought out a little pastel yellow spider scarf, one of the ones they'd made. "It's your generosity and spirit that inspired me to grow beyond the limitations of being a regular spider. You see, your gifts have allowed groups of my kin to cross the snowy expanses to reach better grounds. It's still a tough journey, but many have made it to the other spider clans. I really wanted to repay you both somehow before I left, so I dreamed and wished, and then, here I am."
"That's wonderful, I'm happy they're helping out," she said.
"Yeah, me too," Frisk said.
"Do you want to come in for a little while?" Toriel offered. "We could make up a snack real quick."
"Maybe later, I have a lot of things to do now," Lupin said. "I decided that I'd build a wagon with an enchanted cover so that when I left, I can take a great many of my kinsfolk along. I'll see about taking you up on that offer before I go. But for today, I want to return your generosity in the best way I can. Here." He waved the left pair of his legs and made a roll of white fabric appear. "A bolt of spider silk that I made myself, it easily takes to enchantments of all kinds. Do whatever you like with it."
Since he did want to get back to work, they accepted his gift and said goodbye to him. Toriel brought the bolt over to the table and rolled it out partly. "This is of very fine quality," she said, impressed. "He's got quite a talent; it would be really expensive to acquire otherwise."
Frisk touched a corner, finding it soft and smooth. Definitely silk. And since it was spider silk, he could agree that it would be high price. Even if Lupin was a larger spider that presumably would have greater magic, this quantity couldn't be easy to produce. "I see. Is it normal for monsters to change like that? Because all the spiders I ever see down here are little ones."
"Yes, it doesn't happen to every monster, but it can happen to any of us," she said. "In some kinds, it happens a lot. Like the monsters who live around here, they all have more powerful forms they can transform permanently to. It's like he said, each kind of monster has its limitations. If they surpass their limits, out of willpower, study, or other means, they'll change." She chuckled. "Actually, I've transformed from what I was born as."
"Really?" Frisk asked, curious what she'd been before.
Briefly, there was a fond look in her face. "It was out of love that I changed myself, because I couldn't be with him if I wasn't..." the look faded. "Well, things changed, but I don't regret changing myself. Although, that means I'm what I'll be for the rest of my life. The first transformation is simple enough with sufficient effort, but changing a second time is a rare event because it's much harder."
It seemed like one of those things she didn't like talking about. "Ah. But, it's nice that you can do that. If you feel like you're not who you should be, that can change."
"Yes, that's the main reason they happen." Toriel looked over at him. "Actually, I wonder, don't your human magicians have special clothes?"
He nodded. "It's armor, but yes, the cloak. I've bought them in past loops since you really want a particular set of enchantments on a wizard's cloak or robes, but if this does really take enchantments well, it could work."
"Why don't we get some patterns and try that?" she said.
"Well what about you?" Frisk asked. "He was thanking you too."
"It's fine, I don't need new clothes," Toriel said, waving the suggestion off.
He wasn't about to give up on it. "Please, I could make you a dress or something?"
She laughed at that, but eventually agreed that after they saw how much the cloak would take, he could make her something with the rest.
'Yes, I am a human. And thanks for your offer of help, I wasn't sure how many allies I'd get down here. Now I've got you, and the woman who adopted me. The few other monsters I've met so far, including a ghost, have all been pretty nice or tolerant too. I am curious though, what about the magical scan pointed me out as human?
'I've given some thought to how to cross the underground without being bothered. If I really need to, I have a spell that lets me travel fast. It is dangerous to use in enclosed spaces, but I have lots of practice and some tricks to it. But that would be rather conspicuous. I could also use an illusion to appear as not human. It'd be best if I could make some accessory to hold that so I don't have to consciously keep the magic active. Still, I've got over a year before I'll be leaving.
'It's surprising for someone to call me encouraging, so thank you. I've had a lot of people encourage me out of a bad place in my life; I try to follow their examples so don't worry about complaining to me, I'd rather help if I can. Actually, you shouldn't sell yourself short on ability when you can reverse engineer our technology from what gets thrown away. I don't know how it would end up down here, but anything that would probably wasn't working and you would have had to find the problems and then rebuild the thing.
'And you have done something that we haven't, building a sentient robot with all the abilities I've seen in a few videos on UnderNet. The robots we have are simple things that can't do anything outside their programming range, much less have a sense of self (especially not having the huge sense of self he does). The closest I can think of are some golems that still don't have sentience. Of course, we have laws restricting creation of such beings, so that's a huge reason why not a lot of progress has been made. Still, you'd think that somebody would try to bend or break those laws.
'I know we've only spoken like this, but I would like to be a friend you can trust.
'From Nevyn/Frisk'
"Guess Frisk is your real name," Alphys said. It was nice to know, also nice that he wanted to be friends. Strange, but nice; she wouldn't have expected someone to like her just based off some emails and internet conversations. She was getting a lot of strange friendships this year, like Papyrus who made a point to drop in at least once a week just to chat. And Sans was talking to her more often too, partly because he wanted to look into some older files in the lab computers. "Wonder how I got lucky enough to have people want to be friends with me."
A metal door slid open nearby. "Alphys, are you ever coming in?" Undyne asked, giving her a look like she'd been out here all day.
"Oh, sorry!" She logged out of her email and put her phone away. She'd answer him later. "I just got mail from a friend of mine; he's kind of my student, so I had to check."
"You've got a student too, huh?" she asked, backing up so she could come inside.
"Well not exactly like you and Evan," Alphys said. "Nevyn's really smart, enough that I was going to offer him a job at the lab until I found that he's still a teenager. He knows some things I don't, so we kind of exchange information and problems to each other."
"That's not too different from us," Undyne said, heading back towards her kitchen. "Training up kids like him helps me keep sharp too, plus it's interesting when they decide to try new things and I have to figure out what to do about it. But about dinner, mind if we do something simple tonight? Because I want to show Papyrus that I've improved my cooking too and enter his contest."
She was doing better, but enough to enter a contest? "I bet that'd make him happy. What were you thinking of making?"
"Peanut butter cookies!" she said, picking up a peanut butter jar from the table and tossing it around. "I mean, it's simple and not exactly contest material, but I want to enter something and I could make these pretty good if I work at it. Plus the recipe I found is for small batches, so we can practice them several times before the contest and not end up sick of them."
"Sounds like a good plan," Alphys said.
It had been a long road getting Undyne to cook and bake decently. It wasn't that she didn't the enthusiasm or passion for it (she had both in spades). Rather, it was the opposite problem. She got so enthusiastic that she skipped steps or misguided the formation. The magic would end up confused and the food would not taste how it should. At one memorable meal, she managed to make buttermilk biscuits taste like fruit salad and look like pyramids.
After making sure that she followed the steps correctly, Alphys suggested that she bake them with magic, doing only a couple at a time. That let her get in practice in guiding magic through the fire. It required restraint, something that Undyne easily lost control of around fire in cooking for some reason. Knowing that, Alphys kept a fire extinguishing spell in mind.
The first pair came out as blobby and undercooked on top, black and crisp on the bottom. "What gives?" Undyne said, tapping the bottom and getting the top to jiggle. "I was telling them to be cookies."
"Maybe you didn't get the heat all the way around?" Alphys said, mystified by the result herself. "The bottom got done really fast."
"Could be." She tried again, only to get slightly tough slightly overdone cookies.
"They're okay," Alphys said on trying a nibble of them. But they were only okay.
Undyne looked seriously at the remaining dough. "I was trying to be reasonable, but fine! This time, you get cooked with passion!"
"Careful," she said, watching for the fire to get out of control.
It didn't. Instead, the cookie pair seemed to be done just fine, except that they were shaped like shurikens and had edges. Undyne touched the edge of one, then withdrew her finger quickly. "Watch out, sharp cookies!"
"Sharp?" Alphys took hold of the other one, noting that it felt heavier than it should. And it did have sharp edges. "Huh, you could use these as weapons."
"But they're supposed to be snacks, not weapons!" She threw one at the wall; it caused a crack and stuck there. "I mean, it's an interesting idea, if you went up to someone and told them you just had cookies, but they were these cookies... not good for the contest."
She could come up with one reason this might have happened. "Were you thinking about your passion for battle?" she said, setting the shuriken cookie aside carefully. "Because that might've convinced the cookies that they were meant for battle."
"Makes sense." Undyne shook her head, then hit her fist on the table. "Then what am I supposed to be thinking about?! Thinking about what I have passion for doesn't work, and thinking about making them into cookies doesn't work either."
Alphys didn't like seeing her frustrated like this. It was even worse because when Alphys made cookies like these, it wasn't that hard to think that they should be cookies in a positive way and get cookies as a result. "Um, maybe this is the point where you need to cook with love?"
"Huh?" Undyne asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, maybe I worded that wrong," she said, feeling tense in being put on the spot. "I mean, you are passionate when it comes to battles, but that's mostly because you have people you want to protect and be strong for, right? So you're really passionate and caring about them, showing a softer side when you're around me, uh, and others of your friends, I mean, you just care about us, right? Then make your cookies with the thought that you want the people you care about to be happy with them. Does that make sense?"
"Maybe that is what they mean by cooking with love," Undyne said quietly. Then she grinned and got the next pair. "All right, let's give that a go!"
This time, they looked fine, a medium brown with a light sparkling of sugar crystals. They tasted fine too, not award-winning, but recognizably peanut butter cookies. "It's working out, you've got it," Alphys said, giving her a thumbs up sign for encouragement.
"Yes, maybe not now, but by the contest, they'll be great!" she said, taking up the last portions of dough. "You're a big help!"
"Huh, well, um, not really big," she said, thinking that she'd just been a little help. Still, she was happy with the compliment and just a bit hopeful... no, that was silly. They'd been friends for eight years. If nothing had further developed, it probably never would.
"If it wasn't for you, I would've given up on cooking years ago," Undyne said. She set up the fire for the cookies, but something went different this time. A surge of power caused the flames to be thicker. For a few seconds, they obscured the cookies. Alphys worried about it failing again, but when the flames retracted, the cookies were different. They were darker brown and yet still didn't seem burnt. After stairing quietly for a moment, Undyne passed over one of the cookies to her.
"Huh, what happened there?" Alphys wondered, breaking off a bit of the cookie to try. It was astonishing, getting her to try another bite to make sure. A good crumbly texture, soft and not dry, the right amount of sweetness blended with the nutty, and a little something more. "Wow, this is really amazing Undyne! Especially coming from the same dough as the others. But, how'd the chocolate taste get in there?"
"Is it chocolate too?" she asked, trying the cookie she had. Her eyes widened. "That is good. But how did it change?"
"It's amazing you got it convinced to have an ingredient we didn't use," she said. "Were you thinking of chocolate?"
"No. I..." Undyne frowned, thinking of something. "I was..." Then she grinned. Without any more warning, she grabbed Alphys and lifted her up. "I was thinking of you!"
The declaration got her mind wheeling so fast that Alphys hardly noticed she was off the ground. "Wh-wh-wha... Undyne, me, what?"
"Of course, this is the highlight of my day when you come over to cook and hang out," she said. "But I'm always worried about you cause you downplay yourself too easily and you put on a face that isn't yours in front of just about everybody. I think you're special! And there's a lot of days where I just want you to see that, and, uh..." she looked aside, then back at her. "Damn, lost it. Sorry, but, um, Alphys, I, I love you."
"Undyne, you..." There was a part of her mind that was screaming that this was a bad idea. She didn't deserve someone like Undyne; it'd all fall apart eventually unless she managed to bury absolutely everything (but that wouldn't stop the questions, not even time stopped that). However, a stronger need in her heart called out, hoping for a dream come true. She couldn't help but quiver as she said, "Uh, I never thought you'd say that, I always had a crush on you because you're really cool and..."
Oh, forget about using words! She tugged at Undyne's arm and got pulled in closer for a kiss. It was an incredible warmth. And then, their souls fell in sync. It was just a moment of the powerful sensation, one that many young monsters dreamed of finding with someone else. Coming from a mutual adoration that wanted to grow deeper, it was finding a design that made life more sensible. It was knowing here was someone she could love and trust absolutely, if that sync stayed.
It didn't, as often happened initially. It could be made to last. But to do that meant trusting her more and being honest, if what older monsters said was true. The kiss lasted longer than the sync and when that ended, Undyne was smiling in a really beautiful way, more gentle than usual. "Didn't see that coming, but, sorry I didn't say anything sooner. I got worried about things, like that you didn't see me the same way. Heh, that was obviously wrong."
"I was kinda worried about the same," Alphys said. What now? She didn't want to say no, but could she be honest? To give herself a moment, she asked, "Um, but could you put me down now? I'm sure it's no trouble to you, but, uh,"
"Oh, sure," she said, setting her down. Undyne was twice her height and way stronger than her, although it wasn't that much of a disparity as some other monsters could be. "I just thought it was a cool way to say all that."
"I don't mind it, but I have to say, um," she really didn't mind being held like that, knowing she wouldn't hurt her. It was just going to be hard to actually say this without being tempted to just kiss her again. "But I don't know..." Seeing her shocked and hurt, she quickly added, "Nothing with you, no, it's just, I haven't been, um, entirely honest with you."
"About what?" Undyne asked, crouching down and putting a hand on her head.
There was some resistance in her mind to keep quiet. But that brief bond that could be made permanent, she wanted that and it pushed her into explaining. "Well, just about everything. Like when you ask me what I'm doing on the computer, I'll say it's work but most of the time I'm just goofing off doing nerdy stuff on the internet. Or about those grasses in the marsh, I said they were scientifically important, but they actually make really comfy fabric and nearly got made extinct before my grandmother made a secret effort to save them. Or about all the book and videos I call human history, most of them are just cartoons, they're probably not real. And then..."
"Hey, slow down there," Undyne said. "Stuff like that doesn't matter to me. I don't mind if you're doing nerdy stuff because a lot that you talk about anyhow is nerdy stuff to me already. But I still like listening to you talk about it; you care so much about it all that it's way more interesting coming out of you than anybody else. After all, I hardly meet anyone who can match my drive, except you."
While that was nice to hear, it just made her feel like she had a pit inside waiting to swallow up this chance. "Thanks, but, that's all because there is stuff that matters. I've done horrible things, hurting a lot of people that really would hate me once the truth gets out. You remember I said I had that student Nevyn I wanted to offer a job? Well I was going to offer that he replace me, and I still think he could when he's older. I really don't deserve to be anybody, or having even a friend like you, I really shouldn't..."
"Don't go talking that way again," Undyne said, now gripping her shoulders. "What actually happened?"
"It might be better if I show you, back at the lab," Alphys said. It briefly surprised herself, but there was a feeling that Undyne wasn't going to hate her easily. It was in her eyes.
Loop 692 notes
that flower is getting bored. still killing but in a halfhearted manner unless someone gets him real angry. i saw him summon a chronograph and check it. something about the way it flickered and hummed made me feel afraid, like i was about to lose something dear. he trapped me and asked if i knew anything about it. told him no but it didn't seem good. flowey got annoyed but some measure of fear kept him from attacking. guess i've done a good job in the past of stopping him.
papyrus decided he was the Great Explorer Papyrus and has been traveling all through the underground looking for secrets, knocking on walls and looking for hidden puzzles. one of his more fruitful ventures took him to a room in the core that none of the workers recognized when he asked about it. all pictures came out messed up, black white and gray garbage pixels that you can sort of see things in. he also came out with an odd little cryptogram book, just ten pages. he gave it to me because he couldn't figure it out; it matches all the garbage text in my old journals.
he gave up the exploring gig when he found what he called a completely messed up space that reminded him of something bad, over in waterfall. won't say what it is, just that it's something bad. On checking it out myself, time-space is really screwed up there. i don't want to go in there myself.
the stuff that the cryptogram led me to is baffling, heart-wrenching. i don't know if i want to keep translating all this. while i know how the mechanics of time can be messed up, i can't explain this. and i don't want to. dad, what were you doing? and should i really find out?
met a strange fellow today. can't remember their name, but they felt familiar. they asked me what i thought of flowey, eventually stating that the flower was ineffective like me. i asked what was going on and they said i would never find out if i keep quitting on the journals. those words about the abyss really stick. then got the warning that the world would end again.
honestly, i have no idea what that end was, the dream of it just blinked out.
Loop 693 notes
while papyrus and i were out on sentry duty, a young human walked right out of the ruins. he's about my height and i could take out the kid, but there's that promise to the lady. might not be easy since the kid knows magic well, but it ain't easy to keep the promise either because he's killed a few folks in the forest, possibly before given his LOVE. then again, i can't entirely blame him. kid's terrified of us hardly says a word to me and papyrus.
papyrus caught the kid off guard with the depress enchantment, got blasted with hot water in response. fortunately his goofy response to suddenly sliding in mud got the kid to go easy on him. others not so lucky. the kid must have a chronograph. not seen it, but have definitely felt the effects of time stuttering back repeatedly when he encountered undyne.
got to talk to human kid outside mtt resort. he's scared enough that he didn't look at me and shook his head vigorously when i offered to chat a while. did get him to say that he was looking for something, not what that something was.
crazy flower has been hiding this time around. got reports of a few attacks that sound more like him than the human.
did not find that cryptogram again. the entries that i know i got translated are back to garbage text. figures, is probably a wasted effort.
not sure what ended everything this loop either.
Loop 801 notes
also, i asked about eyes and she said they were a normal color, haysull. can't figure that one out, does she mean yellow like hay? maybe the door lady is good at crosswords too if she knows words that i don't. -she does like crosswords. the word is hazel, it's used by humans to describe a certain eye color. now i'm sure that she's actually queen toriel because it was princess chara who also had hazel eyes. knowing who she is explains a lot. not gonna tell anyone else about this, her secrets are safe with me. after all, i've let her in on an awful lot that i wouldn't tell most people either.
kid's down to 10, really got me hopeful now that this won't end badly. frisk got excited over it enough that he forgot her rules and came down where we were talking. from what i heard, humans use a percentage of corruption rather than level of violence. LOVE 10 equates roughly to one hundred percent corruption, presumably 9 relates to ninety percent as he said some portion of his soul was not corrupt with this change. -i wonder how they explain that a soul can go over a hundred percent corruption with that system. still, we say to start watching around 5, fifty percent for them, so it seems reasonable.
been working at translating the older notes. it's explaining some nightmares, but apparently frisk first showed up as a scared kid who was fighting in self-defense and ignorance. once he started enjoying the fights, things got really bad. -can't figure out from my notes what frisk was looking for here, what he's still looking for now. suppose that will come in time.
digging past loop 700 has revealed something surprising: frisk does not seem to be present from 692 back. instead, i was most focused on an apparently sentient flower named flowey who had a chronograph. -i've also found other loops (663, 692, 767) where i also got the cryptogram message and started translating. when time restarts, the entries revert back to garbage text, perhaps messing up more like that. The message itself points to a particular loop, 159, and my notes say that trying to work on it tore at my heart.
-i went to go find the journal that loop 159's notes are in and just taking the book out made my hands shake. flipping through the pages makes me feel like i dread what's there. i could just not do this one. if the text reverts, it would be useless. but tori and i really want frisk to stop rewinding time. it wasn't always the kid doing this either, it was the flower at some point. perhaps even me before the flower and loop 159 is important somehow in understanding this mess. in that case, i need to read this journal no matter how much my soul does not want to remember this again.
-heh, it doesn't seem like me to be writing that previous part, too determined to solve something that i may not be able to do anything about other than pass on information. wonder what's different this time. maybe hearing of frisk's change, or maybe it has to do with tori. maybe even i'm fed up with doing nothing? sometimes when i dream of previous loops, i wake up thinking that perhaps doing nothing is its own sin when you know what will come.