Blue definitely wasn't expecting to wake up like this. Yeah, he and Razz had been sharing a room, but they weren't to the point of sharing a bed yet. Razz was still nervous about being touched, and both of them had night terrors after everything they'd been through. Maybe it was one of those that had inspired this. It didn't really matter why. All that mattered to Blue was how the heck he was going to get out from underneath the sprawled body of his soulmate. It wasn't anywhere near comfortable, not with his chest still so raw. But Blue knew the rules. If someone falls asleep on top of you, whether they're a friend, a lover, a family member, or a pet, then you can't wake them up just because you wanted to move. So Blue was trapped here, under Razz, until he woke up.
Some unknown amount of time passed. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. Blue had no idea. Eventually, though, Razz yawned, stretched, and sat up. Unfortunately, he was still sitting on Blue, so no freedom yet.
Razz smacked his lips and looked around. He must have sensed something wrong. It was probably just that he was waking up somewhere other than where he had fallen asleep. Whatever it was, he stiffened. Blue, quick to reassure him, said, "hey, razz. what's up? besides you, that is?"
His soulmate looked down and blinked at him. Then a hand smacked his forehead and he groaned. "PLEASE, NO WORDPLAY BEFORE BREAKFAST. I'M SIMPLY NOT PREPARED FOR IT."
Blue couldn't help the cheeky grin that spread like warm butter across his face. "what, the magnificent and terrible razz isn't ready to handle a measly little pun first thing in the morning? i'm shocked. i thought you said yesterday that you were always vigilant against crimes against the sanctity of the spoken word. always would imply first thing in the morning, too. or is there some special definition of 'always' here that i'm not jibing with?"
Purple stars were eclipsed by narrowing eye sockets. "THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I INSTITUTED THIS RULE. I AM EVER VIGILANT ABOUT THIS. I'M JUST NOT CAPABLE OF A DECENT REPLY UNTIL AFTER I'VE EATEN. ALSO, PLEASE NEVER UTTER THE WORD 'JIBING' AGAIN UNLESS WE ARE ON A SAILING VESSEL. IT MAKES MY SOUL SHUDDER."
Blue's smile spread even wider. "sure thing, razz. i'll just make a note of that in my ever increasing lexicon of word uses i don't know. what does j… that action have to do with a sailboat?"
Razz grinned back, pride and smugness radiating down their bond. He seemed to love it when he knew something that Blue didn't, so Blue now took every opportunity to let him show off. "TO JIBE, OR TO GYBE AS IT IS ALSO SPELLED, MEANS TO CHANGE YOUR SAIL ANGLE AND HEADING WITH THE WIND DOWNWIND. DO YOU WANT ME TO DRAW YOU A DIAGRAM?"
"yeah, why don't you do that," Blue said, always eager for new knowledge. "but first can you get off my chest? it kinda hurts to have you on top of the bandages."
Razz clamored off of him, blushing. "OF COURSE! LET ME GO GET A NOTEBOOK WHILE YOU GET DRESSED. ACTUALLY, DON'T. MUFFET MENTIONED THAT YOU NEEDED SOME NEW CLOTHES. YOU ARRIVED… NEARLY TWO WEEKS AGO? WOWIE, IT CERTAINLY FEELS LIKE LONGER THAN THAT. EITHER WAY, WE SHOULD GET YOU SOMETHING NICER THAN THOSE RAGS YOU'RE WEARING."
Blue looked down at his clothes. "i thought they looked pretty nice…" Then he took in the holes, stains, and fraying hems. "at least, they used to. stars, when was the last time i had new clothes? it feels like forever ago."
"IT PROBABLY WAS," Razz said tactlessly. "IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BEFORE YOU CAME HERE, AND ALMOST CERTAINLY BEFORE THAT HUMAN OF YOURS FELL DOWN."
He winced. "true. well, come on, then. let's at least get some breakfast before she subjects me to her measuring tape. and you can draw me that diagram. i really do want to know about this 'gybing' business."
Razz grinned. "DEAL."
The third human made it significantly farther than the last two had. Slim was sure that he would need to recheck his cameras. Something must have gone wrong with them for him not to be alerted until the human reached the long bridge. Then again, that was why he had so many of them. No matter how many failed, there would always be another one to catch the human in the act of moving through the Underground.
Slim shortcutted in behind the human. The first thing he noticed was his hair. It was a bright orange. Then he noticed how pale his skin was. Neither of those things meant much to him other than the fact that he had never seen them before. He was sure they would mean something to another human, though, just like the colour of another monster's soul told him something about them. He wondered whether humans knew about soul traits. Surely they had to notice that people didn't all behave the same? Maybe that just didn't matter as much to them as it did to a monster. To him, the colour of a monster's soul was a huge indicator of how he needed to act around them. Then again, he didn't go around dragging out people's souls just to see what colour they were. It used to be because he didn't care. Now it was because it was rude.
He wasn't sure what alerted the human to his presence, but something did. He spun around to face Slim. That was when Slim noticed the freckles. There were so many freckles. So many.
"Monster! What's your name?" The human shouted.
"slim," he answered simply.
The human grinned. "I'm Sean, and I'm on a quest! Are you prepared to help me with it?"
Slim shrugged. "depends on the quest. i'm kind of on one of my own, and if there's a conflict of interest i'm going to go with mine. sorry."
"Don't be sorry!" Sean insisted. "That's just the nature of a quest! Now, my quest is to find the voice behind the door. I have a message for the monster that chats with my friend, who I promised I wouldn't name! I'm prepared to fight any number of monsters in order to complete my quest! Can you help me, or do I need to fight you, too?"
"heh, kid, you don't want to fight me. i'm pretty sure that i'm the monster you're looking for. i've been telling knock knock jokes with a voice on the other side of the big door for years," Slim said with a grin.
Sean narrowed his eyes. "Why? You have to tell me because the other monster told me what you're supposed to say."
Suspicion. Slim admired that in a monster. He wished he didn't have to admire it in a human. "i do it so i can perfect my most annoying jokes to use on my brother. he hates puns, deeply, and i love getting to see his face when i deliver a whopper. you could say it's a san… actually, never mind the pun. it's funny."
Sean smiled and shot him a thumbs up. "You got it right! Okay, here's your message: I heard about the revolution. Next time you have time, come tell me about it, please."
Slim froze. How… how had he heard about that? As far as Slim knew, he was the only person this guy behind the door ever talked to. Why did he care? He lived behind the door. What did the world on this side of it matter to him? "th-thanks, bud. now, uh… do you know what's coming next?"
Sean nodded. "I'm going to get to see my dad again. It's okay, Slim. I knew what was going to happen when I left the man behind the door. He's got a bunch of us living there, but he only sends through the ones who are ready to die. My dad… my dad was killed by a mountain lion. He was trying to save me from dying. I wanted to fight it, but… I fell down a hole and ended up here. I want to be with my dad again. I'm not afraid to die. Besides, helping an imprisoned species to escape to freedom is badass!"
"heh, you're not wrong there, kid. are you sure you're ready to die?" Slim needed to hear it confirmed one last time.
"Yep!" Sean said, sitting down on the edge of the bridge. "Just try to make it fast. I don't really want to bleed to death. That's… how my dad died. It looked like it really hurt. Not that I'm afraid of pain! I just don't want it to be the last thing I feel."
Slim summoned his weapon. It's citrine fire rose like smoke from the glaive's blade. "i can help you with that. now, do you have any last words?"
The human considered. "Death to all tyrants?"
Slim chuckled. "you can't get more badass than that. okay. close your eyes." The human did, and Slim swung his blade. Just like he had promised, there was no pain. An orange soul floated into the air, and Slim captured it in the vacuum tube. "heh. three down, four to go."
Blue stared at the latest sketch Muffet had produced for him. "no. i'm not wearing that."
"Oh, please, Blue! This design is all the rage amongst the upper crust! They love these bouffant sleeves at the moment, and the asymmetrical hemline would be absolutely darling on you!" Muffet wheedled.
"i'm not wearing a dress, muffet, no matter how good you think it would look on me! i'm not a girl, and i really don't like it when people think i am!" Blue shouted back.
"So you have worn one, then," Muffet said smugly. He hated that smug expression. This wasn't some kind of gotcha game where the winner was the one who got the most information out of the other. This was way more serious than that! This was a matter of what he was going to wear, and he took what he wore very seriously! … Okay, no, that was a lie. He liked to put as little energy into his appearance as possible. And yeah, he got that right now that reflected badly on her, but that didn't mean he could be convinced to wear a dress!
"yes, muffet, i've worn a dress before. i was a curious kid. i wanted to know what one felt like. i didn't like it. everyone acted like i was a different person that had to obey different rules and i hated it. so, no dress, and that's final." He meant it, too. He wasn't going to budge on this one.
"I suppose that's fair," Muffet said with a sigh, "Not everyone is up to bending the laws of gender expression. That's a shame. Well, then, how about this?" Muffet held up her latest sketch. Blue studied it.
He could see that the top would be roomy on him, which was something they had negotiated earlier. He hated tight clothing. The sleeves were three quarter length and would fall just beyond his elbows. The sleeve was a notched turnback hem, although he probably wouldn't turn it back. The hem of the shirt was the same length all the way around, which he liked. The neck was a shallow v neck, the kind that was used on sweaters and had reinforced stitching. The pants only had the words "classic blue jeans" written on them. He could dig that. There was only one thing about this set up that he didn't like.
"i need a hood, muffet. it's a thing for me, hoods. they're safe."
Muffet eyed him thoughtfully. "I think I can accommodate that. A hood would definitely change the lines, but I think it would work better on you. Here," She grabbed the sketch, erased the neckline, and sketched in a simple hood. "Does this look better?"
Blue slowly nodded. "looks good to me. what kind of material were you thinking about using?"
"Dearie, were you really thinking I was only going to make you one copy? You need at least three changes of clothes, and I also want to make you a set of formal wear and pajamas. I'll sketch those up in a minute. For now why don't you go pick out the fabrics that appeal to you the most? Go for at least three. You know what textures work best for you."
Blue nodded amiably. He ambled over to the cabinet and started going through the choices. Eventually he settled on a plain steely blue, medium-weight, soft knit fabric, a soft, navy blue swirled, lightweight cotton, and a thicker flannel with a pretty blue, black, and purple check pattern. Those seemed like good options to him. They would cover the range of temperatures that could be found in the Underground, and the textures and colours all appealed to him. He brought the bolts back for Muffet to inspect.
She nodded absently. "Those look nice, dearie. How do these designs work?"
The first design was obviously the formal one. It was a three piece suit over a button up and tie. He reluctantly resigned himself to an outfit without a hood. They just weren't what you wore in a formal setting. The second outfit was a short-sleeved caftan with a reinforced neckline and simple geometric embroidery sketched out. It looked comfy, and, with only one piece, was definitely lazy enough for him. For a moment he considered protesting something so close to a dress, but decided against it. Besides, the design was very obviously masculine, and he wouldn't be wearing it around anyone who didn't know him well.
"they work for me, muff. do you want me to pick fabrics for them, too?" He asked.
It was Muffet's turn to nod. "Go ahead, I'll get started on the full patterns."
Blue set out and found another set of fabrics for the clothes. The suit itself would be in a slick grey. The button up would be white, and the tie would be a bright blue to match his magic. The caftan fabric he picked was a nice linen done up in a light purple and blue tye-dye. He picked the softest fabric he could that would still work for the design, and the tye-dye appealed to his inner kid.
When he showed the fabrics to Muffet she nodded approvingly. "Those work nicely. Now, why don't you pick a fabric and start cutting?"
He saluted jovially. "yes ma'am. right away ma'am."
Muffet's eight eyes were twinkling when she said back to him, "Good work, soldier. I expect you to do as good a job as you did on the former Queen's dress."
"you got it!" With that, Blue grabbed a bolt of fabric and got to work.