aefenglom | text | 001 - Emphatic Welcome

Name: Papyrus | Username: CoolSkeleton95
Date: Aguril 1st
Format: Text

SO YOU'RE IN A NEW WORLD, LOOKING AT A WATCH,
WONDERING WHAT TO DO WITH YOURSELF...
WELL!
THE FIRST THING YOU CAN DO, IS READ THIS WELCOME MESSAGE:

HELLO!!!
I HEARD THERE'S MORE PEOPLE POPPING OUT OF MIRRORS TODAY,
AND MAYBE THAT MEANS YOU.
IF IT DOES, WELCOME TO AEFENGLOM!
A HOME AWAY FROM HOME.

YOU MIGHT HEAR SOME DOOM AND GLOOM FROM PEOPLE, ABOUT THE CWYLD, AND THE FULL MOONS...
BUT, ONLY SOME OF IT IS TRUE.
AND THOSE PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT THINGS LIKE THE COLOR OF THE SKY, SO WHAT DO THEY KNOW ANYWAY.
THERE'S OTHER PEOPLE PRETTY MUCH CONSTANTLY WORKING HARD TO KEEP EVERYONE SAFE AND HAPPY.
SO, DO YOUR BEST NOT TO WORRY TOO MUCH, AND LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE!
IF YOU'RE A WITCH, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO DO ALL KINDS OF MAGIC.
AND IF YOU'RE A MONSTER, THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THE MOONS WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT TO YOU!
AND I GUESS SOME MONSTERS HAVE A KIND OF MAGIC TOO? BUT IT'S NOT -MAGIC- MAGIC.
WHATEVER!!
THE IMPORTANT THING IS, YOU NOW FEEL WELCOMED.
YOU'RE WELCOME!

[If anyone doesn't want to wade through the capslock, let me know and I can drop it when tagging you.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is this some kind of joke?

[He still hasn't fully gotten used to everything he's been told.]

[It's a lot to take in.]

NO, THIS IS AN EMPHATIC AND SINCERE WELCOME.
I THOUGHT THAT WAS OBVIOUS, I SAID WELCOME LIKE FIVE TIMES.
WHICH PART SEEMS LIKE A JOKE??

[Even with his usual chaotic life, magic is confusing. He never dreamed it would be a reality for him.]

Yeah... but all this. I mean, are you really a skeleton?

OH MY GOD, HOW MANY WORLDS DON'T HAVE SKELETONS IN THEM??
HOLD ON A MOMENT.

[About half a minute later, Papyrus uploads a brief video. The view starts with his face, pans briefly down, then up again. He's in the local Victorian sort of clothing, but his face is a skull, and the waving hand is also pretty darn skeletal. He gives a quick salute before the video ends.]

AS I HOPE YOU CAN NOW SEE: 100% SKELETON!
PLUS TURNSKIN, WHATEVER THAT DOES TO THE PERCENTAGE.

[It might be a good thing that Papyrus Chris jump and nearly lose his watch. He was still somehow expecting the person on the other end to be joking with him, but seeing an animated skeleton has his immediate reaction be to want to guard himself. Once he gets over the shock and the text returns, though, he has a minute to collect himself.]

I didn't know any world had skeletons... Talking ones, anyway.

How does a skeleton become a turnskin?

WE SEEM TO BE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN...

[So few and so far between that there aren't any from this world, and he gets a range of reactions from horror/disgust to fascination wherever he goes. At least there's some people who aren't too spooked by him.]

AS FOR HOW... BEATS ME!
IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, RIGHT? IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVE ANY SKIN TO TURN.
BUT THE MAGIC OF THIS WORLD AND THE FULL MOONS CONSPIRE TO MAKE NONSENSICAL THINGS HAPPEN ANYWAY.

[Chris is definitely on the uneasy end of that scale, but Papyrus's answer defuses some of his initial feelings. It takes some of the tension out of the moment when the skeleton is pointing out the issues with Turnskin himself.]

I guess everyone brought to this place thinks it's weird. It's the craziest place I've ever seen. You said some of what people are saying is true. What are people saying that isn't true?

WELL, THE SKIES WERE STRANGELY RED A FEW MONTHS AGO...
AND -SOME- PEOPLE CALLED IT A BAD PORTENT.
BUT NOTHING TERRIBLE HAPPENED!
WE HAD A BAD DREAM, THAT WAS ALL.

[Admittedly, it was a shared dream shared by everyone in the city, and there was that meeting later about how it was dangerous to have such dreams too often. And in another chain of messages, Bucky's reprimanding Papyrus for dismissing the serious things while acknowledging gossipy nonsense. It's a point worth taking, though the skeleton is sore about it.]

YOU SHOULD JUST VET YOUR INFO!
SUPER STUDIOUS COVEN PEOPLE KNOW MORE ABOUT MAGIC PORTENTS THAN, SAY, THE AVERAGE STREETSIDE GOSSIP.

Bad lucky, huh?

[Chris isn't really superstitious, but he's having to adjust to a brand new world so anything might have meaning here where it didn't before. He's trying not to judge the place too much, but it's all pretty confusing.]

How do you know the Coven people are even telling us the truth? Maybe they're actually the ones that brought us here.

[He's a little wary of anything sounding like an organization these days.]

[Papyrus could relate to the confusion. The magic here is so different, and something as basic as 'monster' has something other than he's used to. Maybe there's real fortune-telling magic, too.]

OH, I DON'T KNOW.
THEY SEEMED SURPRISED TO SEE US...
THEY'RE LOSING HOURS TO CHECKING THINGS OUT INSTEAD OF DOING THEIR OWN THING...
AND WE'RE AN INCONVENIENCE TO HOUSE.
THEY HAD TO EMPTY A WHOLE PART OF THE CITY!
BUT, A FRIEND TOLD ME THAT THEY MIGHT WANT US FOR OUR MAGIC, OR OUR BODIES...
GUESS WE WON'T KNOW UNTIL WE KNOW!

[As much as it seems silly to admit this on the networked devices the Coven gave them, he'll do so a few times through this post. Admitting his distrust is a kind of trust, right?]

Well, I dunno how useful all of us are.

[At least him. He certainly doesn't have magic experience to covet.]

If it is an accident then it's going to keep happening to more people, right? Eventually we'll all run out of room.

I guess you don't know any other magical ways back?

WELL, I KNOW -OF- A MAGICAL WAY BACK.
JUST DO WHATEVER MY BROTHER DID WHEN HE DISAPPEARED.
BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO REPLICATE!

[He would have done it himself, if he did. But then Alphys would've been here alone, so maybe it's just as well that he didn't...]

IF YOU'RE A WITCH, YOU CAN DO MAGIC, AND THAT CAN BE SUPER USEFUL.
PLUS I GUESS WITCH BLOOD CAN BE USED IN SOME TERRIBLE POTIONS?
IF YOU TURN OUT TO BE A MONSTER...
I'M NOT SURE HOW WE CAN BE MISUSED EITHER.

MAYBE WE'RE WHY THEY'RE EMPTYING THAT ONE CAVE SO HARD...
IT COULD BE A REALLY COZY LIVING SPACE IF IT WAS CLEANER AND SAFE!

That sounds more like an accident, doesn't it?

[Chris has gone from being wary of this skeleton to kind of worrying about him.]

I guess the caves wouldn't be that bad, but it'd feel kind of like living in a big closet. How would we get enough light in there?

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