Nature Walks
BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP
The alarm awakes you up, bleary eyed and grumpy. With a large groan, you manage to drag yourself out of bed and down to the bathroom, hopping into the shower and hoping it would wake you up. It does, and soon you are much more awake and are able to dress yourself, pack your school bag with your notebook and work clothes, before rushing to your kitchen and throwing down another bagel into the toaster and grab your Kuerig for some good old fashioned coffee. Filling it with water, and pushing the handle down against the cup you had thrown in there, you lean against the island counter, and yawn loudly. Too early.
You look down at your phone, and notice a message from Frisk you must have missed while you were busy with your homework last night.
[Frisk the Flirt] 9:03 PM
Have a good night (y/n)!
You debate on messaging Frisk back with a good morning message, but decide against it. It was unlikely Frisk would be awake at 6 in the morning anyways, and you didn’t want to risk waking them up if they weren’t. Heck if you didn’t have to be up before 10 in the morning, usually you weren’t. But school and work were a responsibility you couldn’t ignore, so here you were. Suffering.
The coffee brews into your travellers cup and you grab the popped bagel and slap some peanut butter on it. Stuffing the food in your mouth, and fixing your coffee with enormous amounts of cream and sugar, you head out the door.
You crash down the stairs of the building, and greet Janet pleasantly as she exits her building, her jogging clothes on her lithe form. Janet was a rather fit individual for her middle-aged years. She was always active- something you felt guilty for not being, but to each their own. Janet obviously had more motivation (and time) than you did.
“Hey, Janet. Out for your morning jog?” You ask, as Janet locks her door and then falls into step with you. She gives you a bright smile, and a nod.
“Just as usual. It’s good to see a nice child like you going to school regularly too. Brightens my morning.”
“It’s a responsibility, Janet. And I paid for it, I’m sure as heck going to every class I paid blood, sweat and tears to have a seat in.”
Janet gives a low laugh, as you open the door and let her through before following behind. You notice her glance go up to the top of the building however, and hear her mutter, “Not all young children think the same way.”
You also glance up at the top of the building. You knew the owner’s daughter had returned last night- her loud music and stomping overtop your ceiling had been noise enough. She must have brought a lot of people and partied pretty heartily last night, or something. You yawn again. It was a wonder you had slept through all that noise; or better yet, had managed to wake up.
The two of you stop at the bus station, right outside the park. You give a lazy wave to Janet, as she starts off down the sanded pathways. You yawn again, before sipping at your coffee. You look down at your phone, 6:34 AM
Ah, the bus’ll be here any minute.
Sure enough, the bus comes chugging happily towards you, the familiar morning bus driver giving you a wide smile. You swipe your card gratefully, and settle yourself into a comfy seat for some quick napping.
School passes by with hardly any issues. Your classes go by smoothly, and you bubble with excitement to tell your school friends about the monsters you had befriended. All of them were monster-sympathizers, so they were in awe of your story- and even more so when you text a picture of your friends to Frisk, and Frisk responds with a picture of her and Toriel (You’re friends with the Ambassador!?? Is screeched at you). After a semi-decent lunch, you bus your way to your work.
You wonder if perhaps you’ll meet that skeleton again- Papyrus. You were arriving at approximately the same time you had seen him the other day, but there’s no sign of him anyway. You give a little shrug and sigh. You’d probably see him again, sometime. If Frisk really was friends with him, it would only be a matter of time until you saw the skeleton again.
You press into work and quickly get yourself dressed. An hour and a half passes steadily, and that’s when it happens.
You nearly jump out of your skin as suddenly a skeletal face is pressed up against the window, right in front of the table you had been cleaning off. You give a large yelp, nearly tumbling over the chair. The skeleton- Papyrus- you hear, gives off a large NYEH HEH HEH! Of joy, and immediately bursts his way into the restaurant.
Before you could pick yourself up from the table, large skeletal arms surround you and swing you about happily.
"HURRAY! HUMAN, I HAVE LOCATED YOU!” He yells out happily, before setting you on the ground. His grin is wide, and he clacks his jaw happily.
You laugh with him, “How did you know I worked here?”
The skeleton glances at you, “OH, I DIDN’T ACTUALLY. I HAD PLANNED ON FOLLOWING THE BUS, BUT ALAS EVEN MY GREATNESS WAS NOT ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ON MY OWN TWO FEET. SANS HELPED ME COME UP WITH THE BRILLIANT IDEA- THE BRILLIANT PART WAS OF COURSE, ALL MY OWN- TO COME BACK TO THIS STREET AT THE SAME TIME I MET YOU YESTERDAY. SO I DID, BUT YOU WEREN’T AT THE BUS STOP SO I SYSTEMATICALLY CHECKED EVERY SINGLE STORE AND HOUSE WINDOW UNTIL I LOCATED YOU!”
You widened your eyes, blinking rapidly, “Whoa. That’s a lot of effort.”
“YES! BUT NO AMOUNT OF EFFORT IS TOO GREAT FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” He gives another laugh, and assumes his childish pose. You roll your eyes and smile at him.
“So why did you need to find me again?”
Papyrus’s eyes widen comically, and he scrambles to pull out something from his weird rough and lumpy like clothes (it looks slightly like armour…???). He produces a phone, and holds it out to you proudly, “HUMAN! IN THE OFFER OF FRIENDSHIP FROM ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, I REQUIRE YOUR CELLULAR NUMBER! THAT WAY YOUR PHONE- AND BY EXTENSION YOU- CAN BECOME AS GREAT AS I AM.”
You quirk your brow, “S’that so?” You say light-heartedly, before grabbing the phone extended to you and entering your information. You hand it back when you are done.
“THAT IS INDEED ‘SO’, HUMAN!” Papyrus says giddily, eyes eagerly scouring his phone for your information, “THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS CORRECT IN HIS ASSUMPTIONS OF PEOPLE AND THEIR CAPACITY FOR GREATNESS SIMILAR TO MY OWN.”
You blush slightly at the indirect compliment, and just simply smile at him. Papyrus gives a wide smile back, before he looks around the place with interest.
“SO… YOU WORK HERE?” He inquires.
You shrug your shoulders, “Yeah. It’s a job. Pays the bills, you know?”
Papyrus eyes narrow on your face, before he comments, “THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT SANS SAYS ABOUT HIS JOBS.”
“Sans?”
“OH! YES, SANS. HE IS MY ELDER BROTHER. VERY LAZY, SLEEPS ALL THE TIME. MAKES HORRIBLE PUNS. BUT HE’S STILL A VERY COOL BROTHER. HE READS ME WONDERFUL BED-TIME STORIES. AND SOMETIMES HIS PUNS ACTUALLY AREN’T HORRIBLE.”
You can’t help but smile over the mixture of bitter-sweet Papyrus’s tone had while describing his brother- it felt a lot like when you described your baby sister, “He sounds like an interesting fellow, Papyrus.”
“OH HE IS! NOW TELL ME, HUMAN, DOES THIS ESTABLISHMENT SERVE SPAGHETTI?” He eyes the large menu board critically, and you chuckle.
“Ah, no. We don’t. Just- well burgers and stuff. We have salad too, but I’d, uh, not get that if I were you.”
Papyrus immediately gasps, and looks incredibly affronted, “YOU DON’T SERVE SPAGHETTI HERE?!”
“No.”
“THIS HORRENDOUS WRONG SHOULD BE RIGHTED IMMEDIATELY!”
“Well, uh, we don’t get spaghetti, Papyrus. If you wanted spaghetti, I’d suggest going to an actual restaurant.”
“SO THIS ESTABLISHMENT IS NOT ACTUALLY A RESTAURANT?”
“Not… technically? It’s a fast food joint. We serve the meatiest, greasiest, most vile, disgusting stuff you could ever hope to imagine.”
“THAT SOUNDS AWFUL.”
“It is.”
“NO WONDER YOU DIDN’T EXPRESS IMMEDIATE JOY AT THE THOUGHT OF THIS JOB.”
“Well, like I said. It’s a job. It pays the bills. I can’t rightly complain.”
Papyrus looks thoughtful for a few moments, “I GUESS THAT IS THE TRUTH. HOWEVER IT IS STILL VERY UNFORTUNATE YOU DO NOT SERVE SPAGHETTI HERE.”
“Well, there is a good Italian place on the other side of town I’ve heard of-”
“THERE IS?! DO YOU WISH TO GO TO LUNCH WITH ME TO TASTE THAT RESTAURANTS CUISINE? IT IS PROBABLY NOT AS GOOD AS MY OWN, HOWEVER. BUT I AM WILLING TO GIVE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.”
You glance around awkwardly, “Well, uh, Papyrus. I’m working.”
“OH. RIGHT. PERHAPS SOME OTHER TIME THEN?”
“Sounds like a plan. You have my number, so text me some times and I’ll see if I’m busy or not.”
“EXCELLENT HUMAN! AND I SHALL ALSO HAVE TO HAVE YOU OVER TO TASTE MY DELICATE CUISINE! YOU CANNOT SIMPLY TRY SOME OTHER CHEF’S SUBPAR QUALITY SPAGHETTI WITHOUT ALSO HAVING MY OWN, PERFECTED AND DELECTABLE FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI!”
You hum to him, and wave him off when he proclaims he should stop distracting you from work. You laugh silently to yourself as Papyrus continues to turn and wave to you as he makes his hasty way out the door, and down the street.
Ha. Wow. Were you suddenly a monster friend magnet or something? Not that you were complaining, monsters were certainly fascinating- but from going to hardly knowing any in the past year to being friends with at least a couple in a few months; it certainly had to be a good sign.
Maybe you really did make the good decision to move away from your family and up to the mountain.
The rest of your shift passes unremarkably, and you make the long bus ride back to your apartment. Slinking your tired way into the lobby, you start as you notice a very extremely drunk young woman passed out on the soft couches. It was the daughter of the owner, and she still had a wine bottle clutched in her hands. You debate very seriously about just leaving her there, but then a small, choked sob escapes her lips and you find yourself sighing and walking over
“April?” You ask tentatively, shaking her upper shoulders to try and rouse her. It seems to work, and April blinks open her blood-shot eyes. As soon as she looks at you, she starts crying loudly.
“Ah! Ah! April! Shh!! Shh!! It’s midnight! People are sleeping!” You hiss at her, trying to calm her down. April only seems to sob louder, mumbling incoherent words in her slurred voice.
With a dying regret, you manage to sling the drunk’s arm around your shoulders and cart her to the elevator.
“Okay, April, give me your keys so I can take you to your apartment.”
April starts sobbing even more, and you can hear a garbled no! and other clinging protests in between the sniffles and cries and guhh life just got so much worse for you. What was that about a sign? With more dying regret, you take April to your apartment, and somehow manage to settle her into your guest room, a waste basket near the edge of the bed.
You trudge your way over to the bathroom, go through your nightly routine, and somehow slump into bed, tired and aggravated. Just as you are closing your eyes in a hopeful slumber, you hear muffled cries and the distinct sound of vomit hitting the bottom of a bin. You growl, groan, and toss your blanket over your head.
You were so NOT going to have a good time tonight.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP
Somehow, magically, you manage to get up and make your way to the shower to wake up even further. You check on April- dead asleep on the bed- and head over to prepare your small bagel breakfast and large cup of coffee to distill the headache slowly beginning to form. Looking up hangover cures, you leave a large glass of water and your bottle of aspirin for April when she wakes up. You also set a note down explaining how she got there, that she can simply leave once she felt better, and your phone number for anything else she wanted to ask of you.
With a heavy sigh, and large gulps of your coffee and an aggravated bite of your bagel, you head down the stairs and once again greet Janet.
“What’s with the sour face?” Janet asks you as she falls into step with you.
“April.” Is all you manage to say. Janet makes an ahh sort of noise.
“She was banging around drunk in the lobby before I went to bed. I guess you found her when you came back from work, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Is all you supply. You politely wave Janet off, grouchily waiting for the bus to come pick you up. You snooze all the way to the bus station, and on the bus to the University you fall asleep again and nearly miss your stop. Thankfully other students take the bus, so they pull the cord to signal to get off and you manage to scramble behind them, wiping the sleep from your eyes.
Even grouchier than ever, you slunk your way to your morning classes. The friends in them give you silent looks of curiosity, but no one presses or asks. You can’t help but nod off in class, trying your hardest to stay awake but April’s constant retching and sobbing had kept you up.
“I think someone needs a coffee break.” You crack your eyes open to look up at Ben, one of the friends in your small group of associates.
A garbled, Hell yes, comes out of your mouth, and you follow him to the university café after the class was dismissed and before your next class. He trots with you to your next class (he had an actual break until his next class) and gives you slightly raised eyebrows.
“Long night studying?” He asks, sipping at his coffee, eyes glancing at you.
“You could say that.” You reply evasively. April’s problems were April’s problems. You didn’t know if you should go spreading them around.
“Hmm.” A few beats of silence happen, “How’s your friendship with the ambassador and queen of monsters going?”
“Good, actually. I’m meeting them later today.”
“What!?” Ben screeches, immediately intrigued, “That is so cool! You gotta let us come over some time and meet them! They’re, like, celebrities!”
“I dunno. Once monsters got basic civil rights, the media stopped hammering the King and Queen and just focused on monsters generally. Which is probably why they moved to a small, quiet part of town, ya know?”
“Yeah, yeah, I won’t go posting their address on social media blah blah blahh. But still (y/n)! You gotta let Sam and I go see them! He would flip the fuck out!”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely ask Toriel if I can bring friends over sometime. She’d love the company, really likes people.”
“God! I still can’t get over the fact you just happened to meet the Queen of Monsters at the grocery store! That dinky little grocery store in Foxdale, of all things!”
“Well, monsters eat too. Of course they would go to the grocers.”
“No, stupid. Like, what type of freaky fate mumbo jumbo just happens to cross your way for that to happen?! First it’s a Bunny family that moves in next to you, and now the Queen? Can I have some of your apparent good luck?”
“Speaking of the Bunny family, I forgot to mention Kathrine would really like for Yvonne to come over again. Apparently they really hit it up when they met a week ago.”
“Oh? And when were you planning on telling me this?”
“Hey! I was literally told this a few hours before I met the Queen of Monsters, okay? So sue me if I got side-tracked!”
“Fine, fine. I’ll be sure to relay the message to Yvonne when I see her in my next class.” The two of you reach the door to your next class.
Ben bides you a farewell, along with a stern, “Don’t forget to ask!” Before he jogs off. You duck into the class, sipping your coffee and settling into an empty chair. There were still 10 minutes until the class started, so you pull out your phone.
You nearly jump out of your seat at the amount of messages on it.
[Unknown Number] 6:35 AM
HELLO, HUMAN! IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, TEXTING YOU! I WOULD LIKE TO WISH YOU A GOOD MORNING!
[THE GREAT PAPYRUS] 6:37 AM
PERHAPS YOU ARE STILL ASLEEP, HUMAN. IF THAT IS THE CASE, I CAN WISH YOU A GOOD MORNING LATER.
[THE GREAT PAPYRUS] 6:51 AM
IF YOU SLEEP IN TOO MUCH, HUMAN, YOU WILL BECOME A LAZYBONES, LIKE MY BROTHER IS.
[THE GREAT PAPYRUS] 7:15 AM
PERHAPS YOU ARE BUSY. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM PREPARING FOR A BUSY DAY AS WELL!
[THE GREAT PAPYRUS] 7:21 AM
TODAY, I AM GOING TO TRAIN WITH MY BEST FRIEND, UNDYNE. I SHALL ALSO BE SCOURING THE “INTERNET” FOR JOB OPPORTUNITIES THAT SHALL BENEFIT FROM MY GREAT AND WONDERFUL EXPERTISE. I SHALL ALSO BE CLEANING THE HOUSE FROM THE VERY BOTTOM TO THE TOP. AFTER ALL, I MUST PREPARE THE HOUSE FOR YOUR INIVENTIALBE ARRIVAL! I MUST, ALSO BY THE INSTRUCTION OF MY BROTHER, GATHER A LOT OF BOXES. I AM NOT SURE WHAT THESE BOXES ARE FOR, BUT IN TIME MY BROTHER WILL REVEAL THEIR PURPOSE.
[THE GREAT PAPYRUS] 8:15 AM
I AM REALLY BEGINNING TO WORRY ABOUT THE LACK OF RESPONSE I AM RECEIVING FROM YOU HUMAN. DO YOU TRULY SLEEP IN LIKE MY LACKLUSTER BROTHER DOES?
Quickly you fire off a text message to Papyrus
[XXX] 11:08 AM
Hey Papyrus! Sorry, I was actually awake at that time! I was just busy getting ready and going to school. Have classes at 8 in the morning, ick! I’ll try to look out for your messages next time, so we can have a pleasant chat before school starts. And did you come up with any times for your friendship pasta? :)
A reply comes in nearly immediately.
[THE GREAT PAPYRUS] 11:10 AM
OH! THAT IS SPLENDID TO HEAR THAT YOU ARE NOT, IN FACT, A LAZYBONES BUT WERE SIMPLY BUSY WITH SCHOOL. AND I DID!
[XXX] 11:11 AM
Alright, so what times work best for you? I’ll see which ones I can go for
[THE GREAT PAPYRUS] 11:12 AM
ANYTIME OF THE WEEK!!!!
[XXX] 11:13 AM
Oh. Well, I could probably do sometime next week, if that works for you? Probably Tuesday. I have Tuesdays off work. Can’t do it today though, plans.
[THE GREAT PAPYRUS] 11:14 AM
THAT IS PERFECT HUMAN! I AM ALSO “OFF” ON TUESDAYS!
[XXX] 11:15 AM
Sweet gtg Papyrus, teacher coming in. text ya later. :D
Somehow talking to Papyrus gave you a burst of energy (or it was the coffee you had devoured) and the rest of your classes pass by happily, and suddenly you’re on your way home. Your phone buzzes as you get on the bus to head back to your neighbourhood.
[Frisk the Flirt] 3:18 PM
Are we still on for the nature walk?
[XXX] 3:20 PM
Yup! Getting on the bus to go home rn. See you in an hour! :)
[Frisk the Flirt] 3:21 PM
rn?
[XXX] 3:22 PM
It means “Right Now”
[Frisk the Flirt] 3:23 PM
Oh!
You settle into your seat, and suddenly your phone buzzes again. You look down at it curiously.
[Unknown Number] 3:31 PM
Thnx. Doors unlockd.
Ah! Must be April…
[XXX] 3:32 PM
No problem. Hopefully you feel a bit better after sleeping it off.
You don’t receive a reply. The minutes pass, you get to your stop and look around the park beside your apartment. Thankfully not seeing Frisk or Toriel, you head to the apartment complex to put away your book bag and lock your door.
You enter your apartment, and look around. Other than a garbage bag full of vomit (gross), and your aspirin bottle entirely missing (sigh), nothing was out of place. You, very carefully with gloves, tie the garbage bag up and elect to throw it in the trash bin at the back of the apartment before heading to the park.
Once there, you elect to send off a quick text to Frisk- you still didn’t see them meandering around the park at all.
[XXX] 4:02 PM
Hey cutie! I’m ready and waiting at the park for our nature walk! ;)
[Frisk the Flirt] 4:03 PM
:D We are on our way as well! :D
Within the next couple of minutes, as you sit at the bus station bench, you see Frisk and Toriel making their way down the street. You wave wildly to them from across the way, and Frisk happily waves back, before they start running.
“Look out for cars!” You hear yourself yelling as Frisk haphazardly bolts across the main thoroughfare. Toriel, too reflects a similar type of instant worry.
Frisk leaps into your embrace, rapidly signing and smiling.
“Cutie, next time be careful when you cross the street. I don’t know what the underground has, but streets up here are dangerous!” You chide child in your arms. Frisk looks properly apologetic, especially as Toriel comes rushing in, reiterating the same thing.
Frisk hops down from your arms, and signs to both you and Toriel. Toriel’s worried, stern gaze seems to relent.
“As long as you know to wait next time, my child.” Frisk nods and smiles, before grasping both of your hands and then proceeding to try and drag the two of you into the park, puppy dog look in their eyes.
You give a little laugh, ruffling the top of their head, “Yeah, yeah, we’ll go on that nature walk now.”
You gently guide Toriel and Frisk to the start of the path, “Again, I have to warn you it isn’t that long.”
“It is okay. We are more than happy just to spend a bit more time with you.”
You flush and beam at Toriel, “You guys really are too sweet. It’s super awesome hanging out with you as well!” That thought suddenly brings back into mind your promise to Ben, “Oh! You two, I have something to ask of you, if you wouldn’t mind.” You swing Frisk’s hand, slightly nervous, as you head into the covered trail
“Of course! What is it you require?”
“Well my two friends, Ben and Sam, really want to come over and see you. I’m sure Yvonne, Joyce and Tristan would love to meet you all as well.”
“That sounds wonderful! Do they go to the University as well?”
“Yeah! They do! I just have to warn you though, they’ll be asking you questions like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, they’ve formed this… well, uh, pro monster group in the school. Sam’s got friends in the Student General Association of the University, which is how they were able to form the group in the first place. I hate to say it, but some of the professors in the school aren’t too fond of monsters…”
Toriel gives a little laugh, “Well, they sound like wonderful people. If they are friends of yours, I am sure they can become friends of ours.”
“Don’t forget I warned you about them. They will ask and ask and ask questions. They are, I guess, enthusiasts about monsters.”
“Questions are always good for a growing mind, and I am more than happy to answer them.”
Must be the teacher within her…
The walk continues on, and the two of you talk pleasantly (Frisk couldn’t sign, since she was still holding both of your hands). You gladly discuss the fact that tody was both Toriel’s and Frisk second day at the school. You learn Toriel’s first two days of being a teaching assistant had gone fairly well, and all the children had taken to her immediately. There was slight hesitation of mentioning a few fellow teachers and co-workers, but Toriel mentions the principle of the school was incredibly nice and kind, so you felt pretty glad at least the principle was on Toriel’s side.
“And Frisk still has plenty of homework to catch up on. Entering the school year a bit late, they have plenty of work that they need to do.” Frisk makes a face at that, and you can’t help but giggle.
As expected, the trail ends all too soon, and you’re back at the opposite end of the park. Frisk carts you towards a large picnic table, and eagerly gestures to Toriel.
“Yes, yes I plan to ask her. But first let’s have a late lunch.” As if by magic, Toriel digs out a large basket from her bag- filled with all sorts of sandwiches, little tarts and diced fruits. There was also plastic plates, forks, knifes, and small containers of condiments.
“Whoa…” You breathe, as Toriel happily fluffs out a white linen table cloth on the table, and spreads out the food she had prepared, “Jeez, Toriel, you didn’t have to make a whole lunch thing too! How in the world did you manage to make all of this!?”
“It was no trouble, really. And you could say I managed sandwich it all in!”
You look up at Toriel, blinking slightly as she starts snickering. Frisk looks rather peeved at the pun, but you feel your lips twitching. You reach for one of the sandwiches, and grab the little jar of mayonnaise Toriel had just put out.
“Toriel, that puns humour quality was spreadtoo thin for me.” You say pointedly, spreading the mayo with one of the small plastic knifes. Frisk’s wide, horror-filled eyes find purchase on yours.
Toriel’s eyes widen on you, before she starts laughing loudly, “Oh! (Y/n)! The moment I saw you, I knew you were a bread in the making!” The two of you continue sharing puns and jokes, all the while Frisk looking like they were in incredibly agony and pain.
Before long, Frisk is rapidly tapping on Toriel’s shoulder, and signing to them with a rough determination.
“Oh yes, my child! I am sorry, I nearly had forgotten.” You quirk your eyebrow at the two of them before Toriel turns around to smile at you, “We, also, have a question to ask of you.”
“Well, shoot.”
“Shoot?” Toriel asks, eyebrows drawing in, “I do not wish to shoot you, my dear.”
“Oh! Oh no no no! It’s an expression. Just- ah- just ask the question.”
Toriel still looks slightly confused, but presses on nonetheless, “Well, Frisk and I were hoping to set up a sign language class for the people that would wish to learn. Not very many people here seem to know, or understand, sign language. I would like to help with that, and help Frisk be able to communicate with their friends without needing a notepad or me around to help translate.”
“Wow! That’s a wonderful idea!” You exclaim, looking at Frisk and smiling, “I’d love to be able to talk to the little cutie directly! When are the classes?”
Toriel blushes and smiles, “Not for a little while from now, I am afraid. I still have to find a place to teach, and make preparations to start teaching the language. I am rather busy this next week, settling into my new job and helping Frisk catch up with their schooling, so it is not likely until sometime next week or the week after that.
You give a small chuckle, “No worries, Toriel. Everyone’s busy and has stuff that they need to do. Just send me a text whenever you finally get it all sorted out!”
“Of course. But Frisk was wondering if perhaps we could start teaching you… now? They desperately want to be able to communicate with you properly.”
“Oh!” You gasp, blinking rapidly before your eyes settle on Frisk’s hopeful and anxious face.
“Well, yeah, uh- I guess I can spare a few hours today. Shall we just start right here?”
Frisk squeals, standing up and clapping their hands. You take that as a yes, without even learning anything.
Before long, you’ve spent a good 2 and a half hours at the park learning sign language with Frisk and Toriel. You had a relatively firm grasp of Hello, Goodbye and where is the bathroom? You could also, slightly, understand some of the alphabet and was able to sign your name very slowly.
Both Frisk and Toriel were vastly proud of your progress in such a short time.
After helping Toriel put away the leftover food, you bid them a fond farewell and walk towards your apartment to get some serious work done. You had a lab report due in 2 days, it was time to get cracking.
Just as you tromp your way up the stairs (you still felt pretty active after hanging out with Toriel and Frisk) you pause as you find April standing awkwardly near the door to your apartment. You blink, shuffling over to greet her.
April was a very pretty young adult, clear-skinned and skinny. Her hair was shoulder length, and dyed at the tips with a deep purple colour. She was never around the apartment complex for long, so you didn't exactly know her that well. All you knew was that she went to the same University you did; and that, of course, she had a boyfriend she spent most of her time with.
"Hello?"
April jumps at your voice, her vision had been preoccupied by the phone she was intently staring at. Her dark eyes are still swollen, red and very tired looking. There's an almost... depressed air about her person, as she regards you silently.
"Did you forget something at my place?" You ask as she says nothing to you.
Suddenly her lips are trembling and she's shaking her head. Tears start welling in her eyes, and you can only blink and shuffle awkwardly, before leaning in with a comforting hand.
"Hey, are you okay-?"
"Do I look fucking okay?! My boyfriend fucking dumped me!" Is all April wails, before sobbing loudly. With a sinking heart you're ushering the hysterical April into your apartment (god knows why she wanted to vent to you of all people! You hardly knew each other!) and thoughts of completing your lab report are pushed to tomorrow... after work.
Sigh.