It was nerve-wracking, walking up to a monarch's door. Especially with your nerves so on end already from the week before. It will be fine. You assured yourself, before remembering that Sans, Alphys, and Undyne would be present too. Oh, and Papyrus.

You opened the screen door, shifting the bowl you were holding so you could easily knock. It opened immediately, as if the person behind it had been waiting.

"Welcome!" a booming voice greeted you. "It is a pleasure to meet you, my child. I am Asgore." He introduced himself cheerily.

You felt some of your tension drain away at his jubilance. "Good evening Your Majesty. The pleasure is mine. I wasn't sure, so I brought some food too." You informed him, holding the bowl out in front of you. Grillby had been nice enough to lend you the kitchen.

"Asgore is just fine, child. Please, come in." He invited, lifting the food from your hands. You obliged, stopping just inside the door to remove your shoes.

When you looked up, a child stood in front of you. They seemed to be inspecting you. Flushed cheeks matched well the excitement in their face as they gazed up at you, bright red eyes shining. Literally when it came to their left eye, as their pupil had been replaced with the image of a clock. They were a time mage.

Their hands flew quickly then, far too quickly for you. Crap. You only really remembered the alphabet from when you'd learned it in high school during a history lesson. Haltingly, you tried to respond, spelling, H-I I-T-S N-I-C-E T-O M-E-E-T Y-O-U. You cringed a bit, knowing there was a better way to say it, but you simply couldn't.

Wonder flashed through their expression. Evidently, not many people signed to the child. Slowly this time, realizing your limited understanding, they signed their name for you. Chara. You signed yours back.

"That's wonderful. You know sign language?" Asgore inquired, having relieved himself of your bowl of food.

"Not really." You replied, continuing to finger spell: I-T-S A P-L-E-A-S-U-R-E. "I only remember the alphabet, to be honest. I've never personally known anyone who used it, so I never learned."

After making sure Chara wasn't going to sign anything back to you, you allowed your gaze to drift back to Asgore, tensing a bit at the sight of the queen standing next to him. The way Toriel gazed at you, though, seemed almost approving.

"Your Majesty." You greeted, lowering your head a bit respectfully.

"Here, Toriel is fine. Welcome to our home, _." Chara turned to them, and their hands flew again. "Of course, child. Come, _. It is rude of us to keep you in the doorway."

So Chara could hear then. Mute, or selectively so. This was confirmed as the child flinched at an excited voice shouting your name.

Which was the only warning you had before you were gently tackled to the carpet by an excited skeleton. He hugged you more tightly as you automatically tried to right yourself, effectively pinning you. "YOUR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS COULD ALSO USE SOME WORK." He admonished you, sending a quick glance back at a highly amused Alphys.

It wasn't as though you paid no attention at all, but you were somewhere safe, and your secondary warning system wasn't going to kick in under these circumstances. Of course, your magic wouldn't warn you of a danger that wasn't there. Sans had no intention to hurt you.

Still, he wasn't wrong. He'd gotten you when you hadn't been paying attention. So, you smiled at him. "Sorry Sans."

Suddenly, unexpectedly, that situation changed. Your magic flared a quick warning at you and you responded thoughtlessly, forcefully rolling yourself and Sans out of the way of several magical white pellets. "TeMmIe DoEs NoT lIkE hUmAnS!"

You had landed on top this time, tensing in preparation. "I thought this was dinner! Not impromptu training!" you protested as Chara scooped up a strange looking…cat? Dog? You weren't sure. Temmie, apparently.

Chara sent an apologetic look at you before glaring at Temmie as Toriel and Alphys laughed.

"No! DoN't YoU dArE pUt TeMmIe OuTsIdE, bRaT!" The strange creature cried as Chara deposited it outside of the glass door that led to the porch.

"You've gotten yourself into quite a predicament there, haven't you Sans?" Toriel inquired mirthfully.

Confused, you glanced down. He looked fine to you, if a bit stunned. His face was blue again, and for the first time, you truly stopped to consider it. If it wasn't related to overloading, why would magic flush his face so often? Was it similar to how strong emotion caused Fuku to change color?

The answer hit you so hard when it came, you almost smacked yourself for not realizing it sooner. Your own face burned as you realized just how similar it was. Sans was blushing.

"what is going on in here?" Papyrus seethed as he entered the room. He didn't wait for a response, instead roughly gripping the back of your lavender dress and wrenching you into the air. "stay off my brother!"

Well, you couldn't exactly deny that the position you'd ended up in was a. completely your fault and b. could be seen as almost provocative. That didn't mean it had been intentional though. Despite the discomfort of the situation, Papyrus didn't mean to cause you harm, so you gently kicked your legs a bit, reaching for the floor.

Undyne followed him in, probably curious about all the noise. From your position dangling calmly in the air, you waved to the beautiful fish-woman.

"PUT HER DOWN, PAPYRUS." Sans ordered, standing up as Undyne's hands flew up to cover her mouth. "SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING BAD." The blue blush was fading from his face.

Really? This was still up in the air? Pun, definitely not intended. You had practically negative ability to cause anyone present harm, and even less intention of doing so.

Calm down. You told yourself. It was pointless to let Papyrus offend you. It wasn't as though you had expected him to suddenly be nice. Even if he was off of his warpath.

"Papyrus." Asgore's deep voice scolded. "_ is our guest." Your bare feet landed on the carpet as softly as you could manage with him suddenly dropping you. "I apologize, _. I had heard that Sans and Alphys were planning on teaching you self-defense, but I hadn't expected them to spring this on you."

You sent a smile around the room, unfettered as you straightened your dress. "A little excitement is good for everybody." You shook it off. "So, I brought green-bean casserole for dinner." You informed them, abruptly changing the subject before anyone else could apologize.

"Ah, yes. The chicken parmesan should be just about finished." Asgore noted, rushing through the door Undyne and Papyrus had emerged from moments before. Must be the kitchen, you mused.

Chara came up to tug on your dress for your attention. You readily gave it, unsurprised as the child sign-spelled an apology at you. I-T-S F-I-N-E, you signed back.

Chara hesitated for a moment, not releasing your dress. M-A-Y I S-E-E Y-O-U-R-S with a quick point at their eye followed. You figured that it was a question, but…see your what?

Your confusion must have shown, because Undyne added, "Th-they want t-to s-see your m-mage-mark. Ac-actually, I k-kind of d-do too."

Oh. "Oh. That's simple enough." You were too aware of several sets of eyes watching you as you bent down to roll your white stocking down past your ankle. It was glowing again, dimly; still not full because of the constant drain on your magic that your body was causing.

"WHAT ARE THE STARS FOR?" Sans questioned, squatting down to get a better look. Bony phalanges reached out to brush the mark gently before recoiling quickly as if he were afraid it would hurt you.

Undyne answered him for you. "M-mages are ra-ranked by their s-skill and p-power now. There are d-different ways to sh-show it, b-but…"

"BUT CHARA DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING LIKE THAT." He protested.

"Of course not." Your answer came more quickly than you could stop it. "Ranking comes when you're a legal adult, after extensive and sometimes dangerous testing. Not to mention the years you have to spend at an academy as a prerequisite to said tests."

D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S. Chara tilted their head to clarify that it was a question.

"Uh…I'm not really supposed to say what they entail…" You trailed off as several expressions darkened in the room. "Don't worry about it too much. There are certainly some perks to ranking, but it definitely isn't a requirement to gain one at all anyways."

W-H-Y D-I-D Y-O-U T-H-E-N. Your fingers were about to form a reply when you were interrupted.

"Dinner's ready!" Asgore's booming voice flooded in from the other room. Relief flooded you as you jerked your stocking back into place…

You fretted when he handed you a plate so full it could feed you for two days. Surely he didn't expect you to eat all this? Well, you would have to be polite if he questioned why you didn't finish.

Chatter at the table was pretty random, the uncomfortable talk of weather and recent events. Finally, the attention turned to you. "So, how long have you been in Ebbott City?" Asgore inquired politely. You swallowed the potato chunk in your mouth before answering him.

"Autumn three years ago. Or I suppose it's closer to three-and-a-half now." You corrected yourself, popping another bite of delicious food into your mouth.

"I th-thought you w-were o-only just g-getting to be a third y-year s-student n-now?" Undyne questioned, clearly confused.

"I am." You confirmed. "The first year, I wasn't here for college exactly. There wouldn't be much of a reason for me to come to Ebott only for college, since its specialty is science-based studies."

"why were you here that first year then?" What? Was Papyrus…asking you a question? Had he ever asked you about yourself before? You couldn't remember.

"Part of that reason is classified, but the other part is just…running, I suppose. Running away from life." You almost winced at your own wording, especially when Sans's gaze flashed to you so seriously.

Chara place their fork down and turned to you after wiping their fingers off on a napkin. D-O Y-O-U L-I-K-E I-T H-E-R-E.

Y-E-S. I D-O. I-T-S M-Y F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E P-L-A-C-E. You replied.


Chara wasn't sure what to make of you at first. Your lack of understanding sign language was annoying, but normal. They'd been about to go get a translator when you'd tried to sign back to them. It was shaky, confused, and fumbled, but it was communication.

And it told Chara exactly how they could communicate with you without a translator. As long as they went slowly, you understood. And you made an effort to reply in the same way, even once you realized the child could hear.

It was amazingly refreshing.

Papyrus seemed to be the only one you hadn't won over, but that was probably Chara's fault. After them, Papyrus had sworn off mages altogether. They couldn't blame him, Chara had done some pretty bad things.

The child was sure you didn't deserve it though. Not like they did.

Chara gripped your dress as soon as you stood from the table, dragging you off to play despite their father's protests. You laughed and picked up a crayon good naturedly, starting a rough sketch on one of the spare sheets of paper.

It didn't take long for Sans to join in. He loved art. Chara shifted their gaze between the two of you, noting the deliberate space Sans had left between you, and the way he avoided contact when you traded colors. You seemed completely oblivious, wrapped up in the play Chara had dragged you into.

Adults could be so stupid sometimes.