Disclaimer: Undertale is property of Toby Fox. This is a work of fiction and it was made just with purpose of entertainment.
[[Welcome to the Surface]]
10. Thrilled by the puns
Office Prance had other things to do for the rest of his free day, so he drove everyone back to the community center, promising to share a bigger celebration before his daughter's departure. Cristal wanted to spend the more possible time with Frisk and Luke, and her dad allowed her to stay the night at the community center as long as she behaves.
"Finally you show up." At the entrance of the center, Lasso greeted them coldly, not even caring to take the eye sockets out of his smartphone. "There's someone at the office who wants to talk to the queen… or ex queen, whatever."
Toriel always worried too much, she thought something was wrong when she knocked at the director's door. A calm voice invited her to go in. She imagined it belonged to the same monster she had meet in the police station, the specter who worked with Officer Prance, but then she noticed how this monster was slightly more transparent.
"Well kick me in the kisser if it's not the fluffy cheeks queen Toriel" and he came up with an unexpected hug. "Look at you! Last time I saw you, you were smaller than a basket of apples."
"Uh…? I am afraid. I might not remember you…"
"For the love of cotton candy, how come you don't remember your beloved caretaker anymore?" The monster crossed arms and pouted at her, but he immediately chuckled "I'm kidding my jewel! My appearance was more vivid back then. Maybe the name of Lulao rings a bell?"
Suddenly, the memory of an ogre playing dollhouse with a younger Toriel came to her mind. Lulao was her nanny when she was just a little goat monster, long time ago before the war. Now the monster had passed away, but somehow he had managed to stay in the world as a ghost. Not all monsters passed through this phase, most of them turned to dust once their life cycle was done.
"I saw you in the news, the lateshow interview. Been following you since day one and holy molasses, I loved your story!" Lulao was very touchy whenever he was excited, Toriel was unsure about how to react at the excessive contact. She managed to sit back at the office table expecting the distance could keep the tentacles out of range. "I think you said you wanted to become a teacher, amiright? I saw it coming since when you were nothing but a sweet pea, it's just something you have in your veins."
"Yes. I would love to teach children."
"Then it's your lucky day my goatling, I'm looking for someone to help us with the teaching programs about underground story at the institute. You know? I'm the principal."
"That would be wonderful."
Lulao continued discussing her functions for still a good half an hour, and then he offered Toriel all his support for adapting life to the surface. The ex queen wasn't going to have a class right now, for the school year had started a couple of months ago, but the specter wanted to integrate her to the faculty by the next year. This could give Toriel enough time to catch up with surface popular culture, history and scientific advances. Toriel was stunned of how easy things were coming along.
When they finished discussing, Toriel left the office with a huge smile across her face. She didn't expect to find a standup comedy show in the middle of the community center. Someone had built a metallic platform and she could see Luke and Papyrus directing the reflectors from behind the audience from each opposite corner of the room. The monsters had gathered around Sans and Frisk who enacted with community center's light green wall as their background. Apparently, the sketch involved the kid hitting on the skeleton.
"Which means you are shingle? I have a gut feeling we can rattle something together."
"welp, i am. but i'll make no bones about it kid, you aren't my type."
"You sure have a spine for saying so to someone like me. It gives me the impression you have skeletons in the closet."
"that's close to the bone my friend, and just when i was starting to flesh out things with you."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to coxal you. I've just realized your beauty it's not only skin-deep."
"You are just throwing bones at me."
"I'm not that tick-skinned! You have cast me with your at-ribs-butes. Do you have something to do to-marrow?"
"oh i cal-see-um… you go to the meat of it. Go try jawboning that on somebody else, bonehead."
It was so funny to see both throwing puns at each other, that Toriel was laughing out loud along with the audience, before disapproving the nature of the dialogue. The sketch lasted a couple of minutes more until Frisk managed to set a date with Sans, then they bowed for an audience. No one could stop clapping. The robot from the morning, whose name Toriel had learnt was Mettaton, got under the makeshifts reflectors to present another number from the official comedian in MTT Resort. A Snowdrake wearing thick framed glasses came to the scenery doing a gracious monologue about his impressions about the surface. Toriel was so into the show that she only realized Frisk was by her side when the child pulled her dress asking her to lift them up.
"You are a natural for comedy, my child." She looked around for Sans. The short skeleton was chatting with his friend Alphys in the hallway. Soon, Undyne and Asgore joined the conversation. She was too far for catching what they talked about, but Toriel unintentionally turned the head the other way when the king noticed she was watching.
"What is it?" Bocco came besides her, stretching out the neck to gaze over the crowd. "Your ex?"
"Hum… it is nothing."
"That was a good one, Frisk." Bocco ruffled the kid's bob with her wing. A feather was left stuck in their hair. "I heard you flirted your way out in the underground, where did you learn that?"
"Back in home, I guess." The kid shrugged as if the comment was not important. This left an odd feeling in Toriel, who had never heard her child mention their origins. Was she hampering the child to go back with a family? She did not dare to ask, but the question nagged her the rest of the night.
Author's Note: There's a lot of intrigue about the flirt option in the game, I honestly wonder what could pass in the child's mind for thinking that flirt in combat was a good choice.