You had just finished setting up the balloon bouquet when a knock came at the door. You checked the time. Exactly three hours before the party was supposed to start. That would be Damien then, since your older brother had odd ideas about what being on time meant.
Damien's glossy eyes locked on you for a few seconds before wandering around you as you opened the door for him. He was dressed well, wearing a white button-up and black slacks, which clashed immensely with his unkempt hair. You could feel his magic fanning out, mapping your place for him since his eyes couldn't do the job.
You greeted him when you felt him finish. Knowing he hated physical contact he didn't initiate, you simply stepped aside to let him in.
Fuku, presumably having felt the magic surge, entered through the back door. She had been setting up tables outside. "Fuku, my brother Damien. Damien, this is my best friend Fuku." You introduced.
Again, Damien's blind eyes found their target. You couldn't be sure of exactly what he saw, but you knew he used magic to see. It made mages quite clear to him, since they had so much magic. You vaguely wondered how clear monsters were. "It's a pleasure." He greeted, a small smile crossing his face. "Thank you for taking care of our little sister for so long. Heavens knows she needs it."
"Hey!" You protested with a glare, earning a small chuckle from your sibling. You schooled your face into an expression of absolute betrayal as Fuku laughed too.
Grumbling, you turned away to hang the 'Welcome to the Family' banner so it could be easily seen from the door without dipping too close to the couch or television. It had been difficult to find one that wasn't baby themed. The drag on the banner suddenly lessened and you glanced over to see Damien tacking up the other corner for you.
"So, why Chara?" He inquired as you finished.
"Don't you already know?" You asked thoughtlessly. After all, knowing things was what Damien did. "Why wait until now to ask?"
"I look in on you, _. I don't invade your privacy. Your thoughts are something I won't intrude on." He answered calmly. He made to say more, but seemed to think better of it, instead waiting patiently for you to respond.
"Sorry, Damien. I wasn't thinking. I guess…because they already seemed like family by the time. And I was already teaching them. I didn't really stop to think about it for long, since the progression seemed so natural." Banner hung, you jumped down from the fold-up chair you'd been standing on.
Damien schooled his own expression into disapproval. He disliked it when you didn't take time to think things through. It was a very basic difference between you: you trusted your intuition, he trusted logic.
Knowing your friends, you had everything set up two hours early. Which was good, because they started filing in thirty minutes after that. You didn't even bother to shut the door again after Undyne and Alphys arrived, knowing you would just have to go answer it again in two minutes if you did.
Undyne was nervous around your brother. Probably because he was new, but you supposed it could have something to do with the fact she had no idea what to do with blind people. You quietly reassured her. After all, Damien could see magic, and high concentrations of it like mages and monsters would stick out to him.
Alphys tried to rope you into combat training just as Muffet arrived holding bags from her bakery. Large bags. Had Fuku convinced her to bring a cake or three?
"This is much better than your last party, Punk." Alphys informed you, slapping you on the back good-naturedly. "Much more party-like."
"You literally just came over to our house last time. It wasn't meant to be a party." You complained as the mage of the hour walked in with their surrogate parents. 'Chara!' You greeted. 'How's it?'
Asgore greeted you cheerily, a stark contrast to his wife's still displeased form. Or perhaps it was apathetic. You supposed she needed some time to get over it. It was hard, not knowing about something so important beforehand.
Chara returned your greeting before going to mingle with your brother. Now their brother too, you supposed. You followed so you could act as a translator. Your brother wasn't able to understand sign language.
Sans and Papyrus were the next to arrive, at exactly an hour early. Why did start times exist if literally everyone was going to ignore them? You had to admit, though, you hadn't expected them to be early together. Papyrus was usually chronically late.
Damien took a moment to inspect the two newcomers, lingering heavily on Sans, before he turned to you. "I approve." Was all he said.
"Approve of what?" you demanded as your brother started to walk away. You made to follow. "What's going to happen that you approve of?" You always got annoyed when he'd bring up things like this and never tell you what they were about.
"GOING TO HAPPEN?" Sans questioned, tilting his head in confusion. You hesitated to admit it to yourself, as your face heated up, but he was super cute wearing that expression. Not necessarily in a childish way, but in an attractive way to be sure.
Your fingers made their way up to your hair of their own accord, twirling the strands nervously as you answered, "Damien is a diviner. He knows things, basically. All sorts of things." You made a motion to the mage mark on the side of your brother's neck, careful not to touch him.
The seeing-eye symbol glowed steadily, contrasting against his skin. It was blue, but not like yours. It was much lighter in color. Around it sat six small black stars, the ranking mark of your Academy.
Sans introduced himself then, extending a gloved hand for Damien to shake. You reached forward to intervene when your brother surprised you by taking it. It was beyond your comprehension that Damien had willingly just touched someone new.
Grillby was next to arrive at squarely a half-hour early. That was all but one intended guest present well before the party was supposed to start. He immediately moved to your kitchen so he could fill the fridge with vegetables and other healthy foods.
You smiled at the not-so-subtle reminder that he cared.
When the party time actually came around, your phone buzzed, so you flipped it open to check it. It was immediately surrounded in a violet light. Knowing what this meant, you chucked the object, startling everyone save Damien. It stopped mid-air once it had enough room.
"Am I on time?" a computerized, yet familiar, voice asked as binary coding in the shape of a person began forming in the middle of the room.
Incredulous, you deadpanned, "Did you literally just text yourself to me, Eve?" Her body solidified a few seconds later, your poor cell clattering to the floor as Eve's magic released the device.
"Of course." She answered, sweeping in to ruffle your hair. You glared at her. "You don't expect me to travel using normal methods, do you?" She wasn't wrong. You avoided travel in the normal way for the same reason; you just didn't have a way around it like she did.
"I suppose not. Guys, this is my older sister, Evelynn." You introduced, following up by naming everyone in the room.
"Y-your m-magic is w-with t-tech-technology?" Undyne stuttered, interested.
"Yep. Has been for longer than I can remember." Eve replied, flipping her wrist over to reveal her violet mage-mark. It was binary in the shape of a plug; like yours it was surrounded by eight small stars.
You never thought you would see Undyne's shell shed so quickly. She immediately began bombarding Eve with technological jargon you couldn't understand, who reciprocated just as enthusiastically.
Eventually, Eve remerged from the conversation and strolled over to where you were standing. "Hey _. New little sib." She greeted you and Chara. Chara signed something back along with the hello, but it was too fast for you until they got to their name. Rapid finger spelling was no longer beyond you.
Evelynn, communicative extrovert that she was, signed back to them at the same speed. You swiftly gave up on the conversation, opting to munch on fruit in the dining room.
Surprisingly, Papyrus joined you. You waited for him to figure out whatever it was he wanted to say, as the focused expression on his face told you. It must have been hard for him. "you were right." He told you, refusing to meet your eyes.
He was being honest, though. While you weren't sure what he meant, his words rang with sincerity. "I'm not sure what you're talking about." You informed him, pleased he was being honest with you.
"i…we don't know much about mages. how you work or your culture. i should have listened when the kid tried to explain it to me, but…" He trailed off, unsure. "honestly i probably never would have if you hadn't scolded me. so, thank you."
This was out of left field, but unlike that silly apology card this was sincerely from him. You weren't quite sure how to respond, so you went with the most obvious answer. "You're welcome."
You weren't safe in Ebott, Damien had argued. You shouldn't be making such ties somewhere so unsafe.
You were happy in Ebbot, Evelynn had countered. You wouldn't make any such ties if you didn't sincerely love it.
The twins had debated for hours after your call informing them of Chara's addition to your family and, by extension, theirs. It was a debate that hadn't really been settled until Damien sensed how happy you were, and how protectively your friends treated you.
Even if they didn't tell you everything. Damien could have informed you of how much they could sense from you, but something made him bite his tongue.
Evelynn was right. Did he really want to throw a wrench in your happiness? When he knew you would find out later without being offended or hurt? Not that you could escape emotional pain altogether here. The monster you fancied would cause you some in the near future, but it would turn out well.
Damien kept his mouth shut and turned his attention to the young sibling he had gained.
Evelynn was rarely right in place of Damien. Still, it would be wrong to rub his face in it. Instead, she focused on the liveliness of your party and meeting your friends. They'd done a world of good for you already, and she was certain that having them would only help you in the future.
Maybe them too, if you could secure the relationship between mages and monsters. But that wasn't the point of this celebration, so Eve pushed the thought from her mind.
Chara was definitely a charmer. Eve may actually have been swayed by the flirting had the young mage been about a decade older.
Both twins rarely agreed, however this was an exception.
This was good for you.