Once Syphus left the bag of Shadow remains in Cohen's cottage and examined the halberd to make sure the pole wasn't going to break in two anytime soon – it was fine, but the blade looked duller than before, to the point it was more like a blunt weapon than a blade – he left the village, looking for the door to the Velvet Room. Thankfull, it wasn't too far away from the Hidden Village, but it was in a path that seemed to be decently transited. A few monsters passed by, not really paying attention to Syphus, but he still felt a bit nervous, thinking someone could see him disappear in midair when entering through that door. Once he was sure no one would see him, he opened the door and entered, the brooch losing its effects immediately.
Going from the tepidness of Waterfall to the pleasantly cool atmosphere of the Velvet Room was almost jarring. Igor was there, exactly like the last time Syphus had seen him, while Alphonse smiled welcomingly from the armchair. "Welcome to the Velvet Room" Igor said, beckoning Syphus to sit on the seat on the other side of the table. Syphus obeyed, a bit excited to see what could be done with all the Personas he had gathered. "It seems you have made the first few steps in your journey" Igor pointed with his hands at the cogs lining the walls. Several cogs that weren't moving before were fully active now.
"Mind telling me what I did?" Maybe if he could find out what he did, he could repeat that action as many times as needed and get done with it more effectively!
"That's a question you'll have to answer by yourself" Igor's grin seemed to widen, Syphus blinked a few times "Now, I shall introduce you to the main service of the Velvet Room: fusing Personas"
The explanation was long and convoluted. At the end Syphus could barely remember all the details about the exceptions, the different arcanas, how helpful it'd be to register Personas, the inheriting conditions of the magic skills Personas could give when fusing...everything. Although he did pay attention, at some point Igor's words turned rather nebulous and confusing. "Did you understand?" Igor asked at the end every time he finished a section, Syphus nodding, trying not to make his confusion obvious. Once Igor explained the last part and Syphus confirmed he understood, the master of the Velvet Room bowed slightly "Splendid. Now, would you like to make use of our services?"
"Yeah. So, first I should register the Personas I have..."
"My assistant shall help you with that. Alphonse?"
"Yes" Alphonse opened their book and got closer to the table, taking a pen "Let's start working"
It seemed that the Velvet Room services were mostly told to Alphonse, while Igor performed the fusions and summoning of the Personas. Alphonse helped with the registration, patiently explaining every detail of the Personas Syphus had. Stats, magic skills, everything was crammed in Syphus' head to the point he wasn't sure what data belonged to what. It didn't help that most of what Alphonse said reminded him he had just started the journey. Literally all the Personas he had gathered so far belonged to arcanas he hadn't even touched yet in any of the Social Links. Lovers. Hierophant. Justice. Temperance. Syphus couldn't help but wonder who in the Underground represented such arcanas. "How about the ones I'm developing already? Is there any Persona I could fuse included among them?"
Alphonse drummed their fingers on the cover of their book. "Um, not really...right now there are eleven Personas you could fuse and only one is from any of those arcanas: Agathion, from the Chariot arcana. It'd receive power from your Social Link, but I don't recommend it. It'd still be too weak"
"Then what should I do? Help me here, Alphonse, this is the first time I do something like this"
"Let me see..." Alphonse flipped the pages until they found one that showed a green woman with a long red dress. She wasn't exactly the image of a strong Persona, but then again, none of the Personas he had screamed 'power' either "This is Silky, of the Priestess arcana. She specializes in both Bufu and Dia magic, in other words, ice and healing. You could have the main powers of two of your Personas in a single one"
"Then let's do that!" The less Personas he had in his head at one time, the better...maybe. Alphonse' palm pointed at Syphus' chest, and in a flash two cards appeared on the table, the images on them showing two Personas: Ouroboros and Apsaras. After confirming again Syphus was okay with the fusion and informed him of the skills it'd have, they passed the cards to Igor for the fusion. While Igor performed the fusion Syphus rested his chin on his fist, looking at Alphonse with curiosity. "You sure seem to know what you're doing. Have you been working with Igor for long?"
"Time doesn't pass linearly in this place" Alphonse replied while Igor passed the Persona Silky into Syphus' soul "One day I was a soul without a vessel...next I knew was that Igor's master found me, and I was given a duty in the Velvet Room" Alphonse glanced at Igor with gratitude "I can only guess the reasons why Philemon chose to help me"
"So...you weren't always, uh..." what was someone like Alphonse called, again? They didn't seem to be human. Alphonse closed their eyes, leaning back on their chair.
"I'm not human, and I'm not a monster. I'm not even the same type of being than Igor, I'm...I'm just a..." Alphonse opened an eye to look at Igor inquisitively.
"Alphonse is a soul given form, residing in the vast realm of unconsciousness" Igor said. Syphus wasn't sure if Igor meant SOUL or soul.
"Yes. That" Alphonse closed his eyes "My master once told me the Velvet Room's form and attendants vary according to the guest. This room isn't always a machinery room! And the reason why I'm the attendant you were assigned..." the attendant went silent. Syphus waited a couple minutes before requesting Alphonse to continue.
Alphonse didn't comply immediately, their face contorting in an expression of concentration. After a moment of internal conflict, they deferred to Igor for advice. "You may have revealed something you didn't intend to. I recommend you clarify and stop while you're ahead"
"Thank you" Alphonse squared their shoulders and looked Syphus straight to the eyes "The reason why I'm the attendant isn't only because I'm the best attendant given your mindset.
The other reason why I'm here is because I arranged it."
Syphus furrowed his brow, processing that tidbit of information. So Alphonse made it happen... "How did you do that?"
"That's something I don't want to tell you about right now" they said. Syphus narrowed his eyes, noticing their choice of words. Want, not can't.
"Will you ever tell me?"
Alphonse sighed glumly "Maybe I will. I'll have to think about it"
You saw a glimpse of Alphonse's machinations.
The Velvet Room Attendant Social Link has reached Rank 2!
Your power to create Personas of the Jester Arcana has grown!
After making another fusion and summoning back Ouroboros for sentimental reasons – and spending his last gold on that - Syphus stood up from his seat. It certainly had been a good idea to come to the Velvet Room, he had used the Personas obtained while inside Frisk's SOUL and felt prepared for whatever could happen. May as well get out and see where things would go, but before that... "Igor, I'm not sure I'll be able to journey through the SOULs all by myself. At some point I could encounter something too strong for me to defeat by myself. Is there a way for other people to obtain Personas?"
"Hmmmm...indeed, there is" Igor nodded "However, it's a matter out of your control. Those who may obtain Personas will have to do it by themselves, and you won't have a way to predict who will succeed and who won't" he refused to say anything further. He had guessed correctly that, if Syphus knew what it entailed to obtain Personas and how it could happen, he'd force the matter and worsen the situation.
"...I see. Thank you" So all he could do was wait and hope for the best. That's not a good plan! "One last question:
How's any of this going to help me find a way to shatter the Barrier?" He hadn't forgotten that was the key to leading the timeline to a good end. Although the whole Persona thing was exciting and he felt he was starting to understand a bit what was going on with that, he saw no relation between that and the Barrier. Igor looked at Alphonse, who pushed his repairman cap higher in their head.
"Did you pick up the remains of Shadow Frisk?" Syphus nossws. Sans had done that, not him, but surely that was good enough "That's going to be of help to shatter the Barrier, but you'll need more materials as strong as that one. Can you guess where to get them?"
"...no way...so that's why this is all happening! I see!" Syphus' eyes widened in realization, his voice raising with joy at finally understanding – or at least hoping he understood "If we keep defeating and collecting materials from the toughest Shadows in people's SOULs, we would have—"
"You'd have enough magical energy to shatter the Barrier" Alphonse completed, smiling "Seven human SOULs are needed, but a mix of the innermost and pure energy from monsters and humans' SOULs could work too. If calibrated and wielded correctly, perhaps you could reach an equivalent force to seven human SOULs?"
"How many pieces will I need?"
Alphonse thought for a moment. "At least a dozen, maybe?"
"Okay, a dozen! Only eleven more and this'll end. Thanks!" with lifted spirits, Syphus grabbed Alphonse's hand, shaking it vigorously, before turning around to wait.
"Syphus, wait!"
Syphus turned around, noting Alphonse had stood up. The attendant adjusted their cap, stalling as if before saying anything they needed to convince themselves to do it. "I'd like to ask you for a favor. If you do it, I'll tell you more about myself"
"A favor? What favor?"
"The world is a wide place, but I can't explore it. I shouldn't stray away from my duties, so I ask you to bring a bit of the world to me. That'll do for now. I request you to bring me..." Alphonse thought for a moment before nodding, they had an idea "...fingerpaint. That's what I want"
"Fingerpaint?" That was an unexpected request "Where can I find that?"
"I don't know. Bring it and I'll give you some more information. Good luck!" Alphonse sat down, satisfied, and although Syphus waited for a moment to see if they'd say anything else, the attendant refused to tell why they wanted such object. Well that was odd... It had been odd but Syphus had to admit he was intrigued. He did intend to look for the fingerpaint, if only to hear more about Alphonse.
The problem was...where in the Underground could such thing be found? Syphus passed by the couch near the door, stopping for a moment. There was something on that couch...nothing visible, but he felt like there was something...someone sitting there. A very, very faint outline sat there, almost invisible. If it hadn't been because to Syphus it felt something familiar was there, he wouldn't have noticed. "Hey, is there something here?" he asked, pointing at the couch and looking at Alphonse and Igor. The first just shrugged and the second didn't do anything. Not having received an answer, Syphus slowly opened the door and exited, without taking his eyes off the couch. Once the door closed, Alphonse sighed, looking at the couch.
"At this rate there will be"
-ooooo-
If the remains of the Shadows were going to be the key to shatter the Barrier, then he had to talk with someone who could help, and as far as he knew, Sans was the best choice for this. He had been the one to create stuff out of materials from the false Mt. Ebott, it was likely he'd know what to do. With that in mind, Syphus returned to the skeletons' house, being greeted by Papyrus. Frisk and he were watching television, watching one of Mettaton's programs. Once Syphus asked where Sans was, Papyrus told him Sans was working in one of his sentry stations. "HE'S FINALLY STARTING TO TAKE HIS JOB SERIOUSLY! I'M PROUD OF HIM!" he had praised "I SHALL PROVIDE YOU OF INDICATIONS OF WHERE HIS MANY STATIONS ARE!" While Papyrus made the list with as many easy instructions as possible, Syphus watched the TV with some interest. The square robot was showing a wide array of products, most of them of the type anyone could obtain in any random store.
"Looks like Mettaton actually started a shopping program" Syphus commented.
"HE DID! TODAY IS THE FIRST BROADCAST, AND I HAVE ALREADY BROUGHT SEVERAL OF HIS NEWEST PRODUCTS!" Mettaton was enthusiastically showing new MTT products, most of which looked of decent quality. Nothing impressive, but it didn't seem like a complete waste of gold either...and then Mettaton mentioned the prize for the kit of makeup products he had been talking about.
"Oh my god" Syphus felt goosebumps at the rather high prize "Is everything as expensive as that?"
"THAT IS ONE OF THE CHEAPEST OFFERS SO FAR"
"Oh geez" That did allow him to realize there was a severe disadvantage he hadn't thought about yet: his lack of gold. Syphus had already spent everything he had, and it didn't seem like he'd be so lucky as to find free gold anytime soon. How to earn gold, then? "I'm going to need a job" he mumbled.
"SORRY, I DIDN'T HEAR WHAT YOU SAID. COULD YOU REPEAT THAT?" Papyrus was finishing the last lines in his instructions.
"I said I'm going to need a job" he said a bit clearly, feeling awkward. Could Syphus even get a job?
"YOU COULD TRY JOINING THE ROYAL GUARD! WITH YOUR FIGHTING SKILLS, YOU'D FIT RIGHT IN!"
Syphus frowned. "...I'd rather stay away from Undyne as far as possible, Papyrus" Not having any other suggestion, Papyrus gave Syphus the list of sentry stations Sans manned and wished him good luck in finding a job. Thankfully, Papyrus didn't ask about if Syphus had found out how to obtain a Persona. It wasn't like the piece would be able to give a straight answer, after all.
Luckily for Syphus, the very first station he checked is where Sans was napping. He was near the Ruins, reclined on his seat and sleeping, a few condiment bottles strewn on the counter. "Sans. We need to talk"
"hm?" Sans didn't even bother opening his eye sockets.
"I'm going to tell you a couple truths because, well, because I need your help. Can you help me?"
"maybe i can" Sans opened an eye socket "what is it?" Syphus, after a pause to think twice what he was going to say, he carefully told the details regarding how to shatter the Barrier without using human SOULs. It was a tale with a few holes he wouldn't be able to explain if Sans chose to try to delve deeper into his words, but Sans didn't bother to do that. Instead he nodded, satisfied with what he heard. "so you need to do somethin' with that glass and iron but you don't know what to do"
"Exactly! And I'll have more stuff later, too"
"i don't think i can help you with this" Sans said plainly, taking a bottle of ketchup and playing with it in his hands. Syphus' feathers fluffed up.
"What? Why not?!"
"i don't have the equipment to do anything with that stuff"
"But everything you made – that coin, the lump that said 'Sans'..."
"those were no big deal, but making something to shatter the barrier? that's a tall order, bud. you're going to have to ask someone else"
"Who should I ask? I know no one else in the Underground besides you, Papyrus and the child, and I'm pretty sure neither Papyrus nor Frisk can do a thing with those"
Sans didn't seem very concerned about Syphus' supposed lack of connections, instead pointing in direction of Waterfall. "there's a lab on the other side of waterfall. you can't miss it, it has 'lab' written all over it. talk with the royal scientist, she'll help you"
"The Royal Scientist?" Alphys? Syphus hadn't really planned to meet her yet – what to say to her? He couldn't just walk to her and introduce himself, right? "Can I really enter the laboratory and talk to her?"
"why not? take this, it could be of help" Sans produced from under the sentry a DVD case, passing it to Syphus. It was of an anime Syphus didn't recognize at all. Mew Mew Kissy Cutie? This doesn't sound like a good one. "don't look at it like that. it won't bite"
"I'm not a fan of anime"
Sans chuckled in amusement "try not to say that when she's nearby. is this all you need?"
Syphus took the DVD and put it in his pocket, right beside the collapsible halberd. "Yeah, I'm leaving now. Hotland isn't exactly around the corner"
"don't you need a job?"
The piece stopped in his tracks, turning around slowly. "How do you know that?"
"don't tell paps, but i arrived here right before you" Sans winked, his grin widening slightly "i'll lend you a hand with this problem too, but I have a favor to ask"
"What is it?"
"don't get my brother involved in your Persona antics unless you really need his help, okay?" Sans' voice got a little bit harsher "i don't know everything, but i'm not sure i like what i have seen so far. keep papyrus out of danger"
Syphus could understand that, of course Sans wouldn't want Papyrus to be in danger unnecessarily, and the piece was fine with that. He nodded. "I won't drag him into this. Thanks, Sans" Satisfied, Sans leaned back on his chair.
"cool. once you're done talking to alphys meet me at grillbys, 'kay?"
-ooooo-
Just like Sans had said, the building at the entrance of Hotland had 'LAB' written in rather large letters, right above the entrance. It truly was impossible to miss. Syphus loosened his jacket, starting to feel the heat of this part of the Underground, made sure that he had the items from Shadow Frisk, having retrieved them right before coming, and took out the DVD case. Alright, time to meet Alphys... Syphus knocked on the door, waiting for the scientist to open. After a minute or so, there was a voice behind the door. "Who is it?"
"Uh, it's..." Saying his name wasn't going to be of help, so maybe... "I have something from Sans"
"From Sans? Uh, h-hey! I'm opening!" The door of the laboratory entered, Alphys standing right behind the door threshold. Syphus held the DVD case forward, being careful to keep his illusionary claws away from Alphys in an attempt to not to blow his cover. Alphys took the case, her eyes glinting with joy behind her glasses "I lent this one to him long ago! What did he say? Did he like it?"
"I'm sure he found it...interesting" Syphus' eyes darted around "I should introduce myself. My name is Syphus, and I, hm, I live in Snowdin" he almost extended his hand, but refrained at the last moment, instead tucking it in his pocket. The refusal to shake claws didn't go unnoticed to Alphys, who started looking at the ground, a bit too awkward to look him to the face.
"A-Alright, nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Alphys, I'm the Royal Scientist, and...that's about it! I...heheh, I should get going" she smiled apologetically and turned around, but Syphus stopped her with a 'wait!'.
"Doctor, I need your help with a problem. Sans told me you were the right person for the job, so here I am. Mind if we talk about it?"
"Uh, if you think I'm going to be of help then I suppose y-you can come in! This way, please" she led Syphus into the laboratory, passing in front of a very large covering, right where Syphus remembered the screen to observe Frisk was located at. Why's she covering it up? This didn't happen any other time. "What's this? An experiment?"
"T-that? Yes, it's an experiment! Please don't touch it!" Alphys hurried to try to guide Syphus quicker to the other side of the laboratory, as if he had gotten lost along the way somehow. Once Syphus was seated far away from the screen and Alphys offered soda, she stood nearby, idly clicking her claws together "S-So...what's this you wanted to talk about?"
Syphus tried to look confident and assertive. If he was going to lie his ass off, then he had to be convincing. "Dr. Alphys, I have heard about what you need to do. Breaking the Barrier isn't an easy job, much less when it's by using some sort of artificial SOUL method"
"Ah, that? Yeah, it's tough...but I'm w-w-working very hard on it" Alphys stared to the floor. It was common knowledge how she had obtained the Royal Scientist job, and she knew what everyone expected of her. Didn't make it less stressful, though. Is that what this guy came for? To prod and pressure her? Just what she needed, some random guy doing that. What a wonderful day. Alphys wondered for the umpteenth time what she was doing playing Royal Scientist like this. She truly was a scientist, and a rather skillful one, but what Asgore and monsterkind expected from her was something she had no idea how to do yet. Syphus nodded.
"Wonderful! But you have an alternate plan, right?"
"...an alternate plan? I'm not sure what you—what you mean"
"If the artificial SOUL thing doesn't work you're going to need some other way to shatter the Barrier"
If Alphys could pale she would have. She hadn't thought of an alternate plan! Did such thing even exist, when she couldn't even think of a main plan? "Y-Yeah! I have one. You don't have to worry about it"
Syphus smiled just a bit, looking queasy instead of confident. "I have something to offer you. If it works, the Barrier will be broken! And we'll all be free. It's worth a try, right?"
Alphys wasn't as naïve or stupid as to jump onto the offer without asking questions. She froze, processing what she just heard, and then slowly looked at him. "What's your proposal?"
"Here, look at this" Syphus took out of his pocket the glass and iron from Shadow Frisk, passing them to Alphys "I found these objects in a very deep part of the Underground, and it has a lot of magical energy embedded inside!"
The scientist took the glass, immediately sensing the abundant magic contained in those worthless-looking objects. "How's this possible...?"
"I don't know! But I think these aren't the only materials in the Underground containing this much magic inside. If I can find enough of these materials, some kind of machine or tool to break the Barrier could be made!"
"I-I see, but..." To Alphys it was nothing she hadn't heard about before. The CORE itself had been made created not only to create magical electricity for the Underground, but also as an attempt to shatter the Barrier with monumental amounts of energy. Not even the CORE had managed to do that. How would a few pieces of glass and iron have the energy to do something the CORE couldn't do? It didn't make sense at all. "I-I'm not sure this is going to work..."
"But it's worth a try, right?"
"I don't know...this is unexpected, I don't know if I can help you" Alphys stammered for a second, hurrying to add something else "I-I-I-I'm not saying 'no', I just want some time to think! Dedicating time to your proposal would mean investing less time to the other projects, I need to check the status of everything, so I-"
"It's fine. There's no hurry" Syphus said a bit flatly, standing up "It was nice to meet you, Dr. Alphys"
"The s-same to you, Mr. Syphus...I—if you find more of these things you could bring them. I'll take a look and..." she wiped some sweat from her brow "We'll talk later, okay?" It was better than nothing, at least. Syphus nodded. "And if you see Sans, tell him I said thank you. For recommending me to you. It's...it feels nice to know he believes I'm good enough for this"
"How do you know Sans, anyway?"
"Sans used to work with the former Royal Scientist...I used to come and talk to him a bit, you know, I always was interested in science. H-He was a very motivated s-skeleton back then"
"...we're still talking about Sans, right?" It was a bit hard to have 'Sans' and 'motivated' in the same sentence, that much Syphus knew. Alphys nodded, smiling nostalgically.
"He was laidback but there was something about science that made him a-actually work. I d-don't know why he doesn't care much anymore, but...but he's always going to be a scientist, even if he doesn't do science anymore...that's what I think"
Syphus scratched the side of his face, luckily Alphys didn't realize the way his claws were clipping into his scales. "That's a bit hard to believe. He's not the most enthusiastic monster nowadays"
"I-I know! I hope he's alright..." Alphys muttered "Everyone has days where they feel sad and useless, I know that, but Sans tries to hide how he feels and I think he doesn't want help. I don't know if he thinks no one notices it but...everyone knows it...and no one knows what to do"
...I had no idea it was that bad. "Is there something I can do?"
"Try to be a friend to him. I think...that's the most you c-can do right now" Alphys said, and Syphus looked away, inexpressive. That was going to be rather difficult. Sans was trying to keep him away at arm distance – at the very least. Actually connecting with Sans was going to be a challenge. Does he even have a Social Link? If he had, then the moment he managed to start a link with Sans would be the moment he'd know Sans had finally accepted him.
"I better get going" Syphus said, adjusting his jacket "Thanks for everything, Dr. Alphys"
"C-Come back anytime! And I mean it, bring me those scraps of things you find, and I'll see what I can d-do" Alphys extended her claw, but Syphus again refused to shake hands, instead bowing his head.
You have established a cooperation agreement with Alphys.
You feel a faint bond forming between you and Alphys
Thou art I... And I am thou
Thou hast established a new bond
Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Priestess Arcana
Alphys started leading Syphus out, as if fearing Syphus would run to the screen behind the curtain and find out about the human. "T-Tell Sans I say hi" along the way she glanced at the repaired camera, considering for a moment to ask Syphus to go put the camera where it was supposed to go, but she decided not to bother him with that.
This went well. It wasn't perfect, but it was fine. At least he had the possibility of maybe relying on Alphys to make something with the remains of the Shadow selves of people, it was one step closer to shattering the Barrier.
He was finally feeling like he was achieving something.
-ooooo-
Grillby's was a place Syphus hadn't really thought he'd visit. When he entered he had barely gone five feet forward when the usual patrons started realizing something unusual was happening. The Royal Guard dogs raised their noses, being the first ones to notice the stranger amidst the usual population of Snowdin. The conversations quieted without completely disappearing, everyone looking at Syphus with a mix of curiosity and wariness. It wasn't every day that someone new strode into Grillby's, and while everyone was usually willing to welcome a new patron, they wanted to get used to the new person's presence before trying to even talk to them. Syphus stopped, not having expected everyone to look at him, but took a deep breath and went towards the counter, where Sans was waiting.
Sans waved at him without even turning around. Once Syphus sat on the stool beside Sans the skeleton turned his head around. "sup, 'phus. how did it go?" he signaled at Grillby's, who put a plate of fries in front of Syphus. Sans already had his.
"Are we sure we should talk in a public place like this one?" No one was paying attention to Syphus anymore, but it still made Syphus a tad uneasy to discuss such matters in here. Sans shrugged.
"no one will listen. it may be hard to believe, but people don't have the hobby of eavesdropping" It didn't matter that there were patrons just a few feet away, Sans was sure no one would care enough to really try to listen. Syphus poked the fries, still a bit wary of talking in a pub about the recent developments, but Sans looked like he had no intentions of moving from his seat.
"Fine. Alphys...she didn't exactly jump onto the chance, but she didn't reject it either. I think we can rely on her once I get more materials"
"great. told you she was the right one for the task" Sans said. Syphus bit onto some of the fries. They weren't bad at all.
"So, how's Frisk?"
"they're going to stay with papyrus and I for a while" the skeleton said, Syphus breathing in relief. Good! Frisk was listening to him! He had no idea for how long Frisk would stay in the skeleton brother's house, but it was good enough they were delaying their journey for the moment. Sans grabbed a bottle of ketchup, drinking it all in a single swig.
"How long are they going to stay with you?"
"dunno. maybe a week or two" That wasn't really that long, but maybe it'd delay things enough for Undyne to not to get in Frisk's way, or something. "since you talked with alphys i'll lend you a hand with your job problem"
"You mean you can get me a job?" Is it going to be selling hot dogs, Sans?
"watch this" Sans turned to Grillby's "hey. this guy here's looking for a job. got something for him?"
"..." Grillby didn't even look at Syphus, he was drying glasses. A nearby monster, a bird of a faded red color, raised a wing, getting Syphus' attention.
"Grillby asks about your qualifications"
"Oh? Oh! Uh..." Syphus glared at Sans for a moment for putting him on the spot so suddenly, and looked at Grillby "I have worked in customer support, and I know how to deal with customers" It had been decades since he truly had a job, but it wasn't like Grillby needed to know about that.
"..."
"Have you ever worked at a pub?" the bird 'translated'.
"Not really, I worked in—" Syphus hadn't finished talking when Grillby reached under the counter and pulled a rag, passing it to Syphus. The piece stared at it for a moment before taking it, momentarily wondering how Grillby could hold something like the rag without burning it to cinders.
The bird, having seen Grillby's action, hurried to say something. "And also he says you're hired!"
"...oh. Thanks, Mr. Grillby..." Syphus said happily and a bit louder than necessary, taking the rag and looking at Sans "Guess I got a job now"
"congratulations, bud" Sans raised his empty bottle of ketchup in Syphus' honor, making him chuckle.
"How did you even manage to get me a job in five minutes?"
"magic" the skeleton did jazz hands and refused to say anything else about that.
"..."
"Sans promised to pay his tab in full if Grillby helped you" the bird explained. Isn't that a bribe?! Well, whatever worked, Syphus supposed. What mattered was that at least he'd have some gold available, and that was good enough. While the bird started telling Syphus about his duties and what Grillby expected from him – mostly keeping everything in the pub clean - Sans got off the stool.
"good luck, 'phus. here's some handy tips" Sans pointed at the regulars of the pub "the dogs like to have scraps fed under the table, but don't take personal if they don't trust you at first. keep the drinks coming for that bunny over there. the jukebox doesn't work. ah, and if you can tell the toothy fellow over there facts about human food then do it. see ya" he walked away after telling Grillby to add the fries to his tab, leaving Syphus to continue receiving the improvised induction to his new part-time job.
SOCIAL LINKS:
Fool - Frisk - RANK 4
Magician - ? - RANK 0
Priestess - Alphys - RANK 1
Empress - Toriel - RANK 2
Emperor - Cohen - RANK 2
Hierophant - ? - RANK 0
Lovers - ? - RANK 0
Chariot - Ananas - RANK 2
Justice - ? - RANK 0
Hermit - ? - RANK 0
Fortune - ? - RANK 0
Strength - ? - RANK 0
Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0
Death - Cornio - RANK 1
Temperance - ? - RANK 0
Devil - ? - RANK 0
Tower - ? - RANK 0
Star - Lucia - RANK 1
Moon - ? - RANK 0
Sun - Papyrus - RANK 2
Judgment - ? - RANK 0
Aeon - Syphus - RANK 1
Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2