Oh, what is it worth

[inruins]

Who: Toriel & You!
When: The week after this wreck (UNDERTALE SPOILERS WITHIN LINK). Mid August.
Where: Her room, the rec center & the hallways.
What: Toriel distracts herself from her ugly break up with Sans by taking care of children, telling jokes and swimming.
Warnings: To be added as needed. Swearing?




[A - Somebody's gotta lose]

Readjusting her schedule should be the hardest part, really. Toriel had woven her life on board with Sans' own so easily. Only a few days ago she was relieved, things could finally go back to normal. They could pick up where they left off.

Toriel feels... idiotic. He had lied to her this whole time. If he hadn't been drunk, he likely would have never told her. She is a fool just as much as he is. He's always been a liar, but she... thought it could be alright. She thought they found a middle ground.

It is a dull kind of ache in her chest when she skirts around usual plans. Greeting Sans with a text or joke, naps in the garden and the occasional hang out is ripped out of her schedule completely. The next few days are spent ignoring everything that used to brighten her day.

A joke hits Toriel, she turns on her MID nearly texting Sans before the realization of everything settles back over her. She buries her frustration to focus on how funny the joke clearly is.

Any unlucky passerby is asked by the boss monster, "Would you like to hear a joke?"


[B - Out there, always echoing ]

She's left the door to her, Frisk and Asriel's private room open partially as she works. Toriel sorts through what books she's manages to save for the children. When satisfied with the books, she's making the bed, straightening it out.

It is a small comfort to pick up after her children. They're both naturally neat which gives her less to do, but she'll find busy work for herself.

Those who pass by will hear her singing to herself as she cleans.

The song hits odd inhuman notes at points. Looking into the room gives those a good idea of why. Toriel certainly is not human by any regard.


[ C - Some things never sleep]

Toriel hasn't had need to really wear her swimsuit since the resort planet, but she makes use of it today. Even with the low lighting and low energy mode, the pool is still active in the rec center. The water is still blessedly heated. A small favor the new strange captains had left behind.

The boss monster sets up a load of towels aside the pool knowing she'd need them after she got out of the pool. When she has everything settled she dives into the water. She had nearly forgotten what it was like to swim.

Anyone who comes into the rec center will hear the splashes of someone swimming. When they approach the pool other crew members will discover a very soaked boss monster doing laps, her fur doesn't make swimming all that great to say the least. It doesn't stop Toriel though.

"Damn." She breaths out finally coming to a stop, exhaling and resting her chin on the pool's ledge.

[ D - Like the stars chase the sun]

Any and every kid and teenager under 18 will be finding themselves pestered by a particularly large goat monster come meal times. Even with her own problems, Toriel doesn't let it affect her work. The ship's children need care and she'll provide it where she can.

One moment they'll be minding their own business, the next Toriel will approach with a warm smile.

"Have you had a chance to eat yet, dear?"

Comments

C

[pleasereset]

The rec center was quiet at night, and usually empty. It was not a bad place to find some peace when Asriel already couldn't sleep. He hated the darkness of the ship, but if he pretended hard enough while sitting next to the rec center's pool, he could imagine himself being back in Waterfall.

Maybe it should be funny that being reminded of the Underground gives him some weird source of comfort, after the sacrifices he made to try and leave it.

Tonight isn't much different from the other nights he's slipped in, only this time he hears a splash of water and realizes he's not alone. He stiffens, opening his mouth to offer an awkward apology.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't realize anyone was-"

And then he notices who's in the pool, and he can't help the sudden surprise in his voice.

"... Mom?"

[inruins]

"Asriel-?" The surprise is very much mutual. She rises to stand in the pool properly now. Her own funk forgotten in place of worrying about her child. "What are you doing up? I thought you were asleep."

Toriel wasn't oblivious to her son's bouts of sleeplessness, but she hadn't thought he'd wander off tonight. He seemed settled in bed next to Frisk when she left.

[pleasereset]

Asriel gives her a nervous smile, while trying to think of a good way to explain himself.

"I-I was, but I woke up and..."

His expression drops, and he huffs out a sigh.

"I couldn't fall back asleep."

B

[gainedlove]

It's a rare moment of stillness from Frisk in the past few weeks, with them sitting at the desk while they work on their school assignments. Maths, science...a few other worksheets that Toriel had written up herself. If it weren't for the clothes they wear and the dimmed lights, it could almost feel like New New Home.

(Frisk had been tempted to suggest a different name, but something about Asgore's choices is just too charming.)

For a while they simply work and listen to Toriel's singing, sometimes mumbling to themself about one problem or another, but eventually they chime in softly to sing along. Their accent isn't terrible, but they stumble over a few of the words, more concerned with matching the notes than pronouncing everything just right.

[inruins]

Frisk joining in with her song warrants a soft kind of smile from the boss monster. She carries the song onward, slowing a little so the small child can catch up more easily.

It is gentle encouragement for Frisk to continue. Even with school work, the boss monster is more than happy to indulge her child. She quite enjoys sharing the older pieces of her culture with her children, pieces that died off with the war to some extent.

[gainedlove]

Frisk glances back in surprise when Toriel changes the pace of the song, their voice cutting off for a moment, but they quickly smile and start singing again, louder and with more confidence this time. They scribble out a few more answers, but the song is taking much more of their attention the longer the duet goes on.

Giggling a little when the song finally ends, Frisk turns around in their chair to look over the back at Toriel with a bright smile. "What's that one about, Mom?"

A

[whatshimadayou]

And here, Toriel is met with the stone cold face of a human man who is scowling in skepticism when she makes her innocent offer. Hanzo's brows furrow and he seems to digest that for a moment before he's snorting and lifting his chin to peer at her.

It has been a long week of adjusting to the environment of strange people, aliens, and monsters, being confronted of ghosts of the past whether he wanted to or not. Vaguely, he recalls this goat woman in the bar, leaving after something difficult had happened. Hanzo merely observed from a distance, but had been too consumed by his own matters to bother to pay heed further.

Perhaps another day, he'd keep walking.

Hanzo sniffs, then says, "Very well. If you must."

[inruins]

"I'm sure you'll like it." She idly recognizes him from the bar, but is glad enough he isn't bringing up what happened. Really she just wants to make someone laugh, opposed to discussing her own disaster of a relationship.

She can already tell this man might be a tough audience, but it doesn't deter the boss monster any. She offers him a smile, attempting to be positive even with his chilly behavior.

"Why do fish live in salt water?" She questions back.

[whatshimadayou]

The archer folds his arms and watches her, mildly curious and mostly dubious. Despite everything, she is smiling at him.

Alas, he remains frowning, as he usually does, but he doesn't turn away coldly or refuse her attempt to tell a joke.

"Why?" Hanzo responds, humoring her humor.

C!

[coolskeletonnyehntyfive]

If being fuzzy made it difficult to swim, being a skeleton made it nearly impossible. Papyrus was lousy in the water, but he still dropped in regularly with his water wings and swim trunks for aquarobics.

He'd missed a few days due to sticking so close to Sans, but doing nothing all the time made him restless, and he finally decided to take a little personal time. He sits at the edge of the pool and dunks his bony feet in, but he waits until Toriel surfaces to give her an awkward little wave.

Shoot. They're still friends, right?

"Oh! Um... hello, Toriel! Nice day for a swim, isn't it?"

[inruins]

For his worries, Papyrus is greeted how he usually is by Toriel, warmly with a smile. "Ah, hello, dear!" Whatever she's feeling about Sans doesn't really apply to the other skeleton monster.

"Yes, yes it is. I wish we could swim at an outdoor pool or a beach again, but that isn't about to happen anytime soon sadly."

C

[greyate]

Jean hasn't felt that cold since arriving on the ship. If anything, since the battle back on her own planet, she's felt an almost soothing sort of warmth. Nothing like the burning heat she would get during her nightmares. She, thankfully, has yet to experience one on the ship.

But after a few weeks of being on the ship, she finally feels the cold start to settle in.

Since the hot water in the shower is limited and her blankets aren't enough, she goes to the only place she knows where there's hot water. She doesn't have a swimsuit herself or else she'd dip in. The best she can do is sit on the edge of the pool, shoes and socks off, pants rolled up to her knees as she dangles her legs into the heated water. Her blanket is wrapped around her shoulders and arms.

From the other side of the pool, she watches Toriel swim back and forth, slowly feeling herself get a little more comfortable and warm. Too bad the walk back to her barracks will be a cold one.

It's only when Toriel stops that Jean can more clearly feel what had felt muffled by all the activity. Jean doesn't read her thoughts, wanting to respect Toriel's privacy even as she wants to do something to ease the pain she's feeling from her. She worries her bottom lip with her teeth before finally saying, "You're doing really well! I don't think I could be that fast. Not this late."

[inruins]

The company initially surprises the boss monster, Toriel turns around, settling her gaze towards the young woman feeling silly for being so wrapped up in her own thoughts. She shoves asides the idle frustrations of the month to offer Jean a fang-y smile.

"Ah, thank you, dear." Toriel brushes some wet fur out of her line of sight, "I've just been wanting to swim and got a bit carried away."

"I hope I haven't been splashing water at you." Her tone is apologetic at the thought, "If I have I can always move further back. I am a bit of a water bomb given how much fur I have." Toriel knew as soon as she stepped out of the pool she was going to take most of the water with her.

a -

[grandpaladin]

This is a very strange ship. He's made a happy discovery of the rec center, and observatory. And tried not to think about the presence of so many Overwatch members aboard. Or... ex members. That might not bode well for the future.

He's busied himself with tending to his armor and exploring, more or less. And it's on one such of these exploratory walks, he hears the question.

"Hm?"

Ah, the magical individual from his arrival. He grins at her, inclining his head politely. "Of course! What is it?"

[inruins]

Recognition settles on her features, making her smile warmer. They haven't spoken quite that much, but she's more than happy to offer him a joke. Hopefully he's familiar with knock knock jokes.

"Knock, Knock!"

A.

[mttbrandlegs]

Well well, fancy meeting Toriel here, right?

Mettaton turns and gives her a smile.

He was there. He knew what went down. But...his method of coping with aggravating topics was to ignore them completely and pretend they didn't even exist. It stood to reason that others shared his sentiment, right?

Of course he only draws this assumption because a normal person would probably be holed up in their room and moping. Maybe he just had a skewed view.

"I would love nothing more, darling!"

[inruins]

"Wonderful! I was hoping you would say yes." She clasps her hands together with a smile. For what awkwardness is there, Toriel can easily breeze by it. She won't let what happened affect her behavior with everyone else. She's angry with Sans, no one else.

"What kind of bird sticks to sweaters?"

C

[springlocking]

Between the scars and the sheer vulnerability of the situation, Charlie was probably never going to put on a swimsuit again. Not right now, anyway, not until she could feel safe again. The rest of the rec center was fine enough, but the pool...that would mean being potentially drowned by a psycho she knew all too well.

That didn't stop her from occasionally visiting the pool just to be there, though, and as a result, there is a teenager squatting and trailing her fingers in the water when Toriel flops her chin onto the ledge. Charlie starts, unusually jumpy before she recognizes this as a fellow crew member - one from before the new captains and the evil they'd brought with.

She relaxes again quickly enough, but tilts her head and looks curiously at Toriel.

"Hi, didn't see you there. Is - is the pool okay?"

She'd heard that quiet curse, after all.

[inruins]

The company is unexpected, warranting a surprised blink from the boss monster. She has to brush some wet fur out of her eyes as she glances over at Charlie. She offers the young woman a friendly smile.

"Ah- I can say the same, I was wrapped up in swimming." She answers with a soft laugh, "Yes, it is. I'm shocked it is still heated given the new changes."

Toriel is going to just brush by her curse, not acknowledging it, if she can get away from it.

A

[devilofohara]

"Hm?"

Truthfully, Robin had hardly noticed Toriel passing her in the hallway. She's been a busy little bee as of late, planning and conspiring with others and trying to relearn the nuances of walking, and today's no different. In fact, today is the first day she's really tried to walk around without a cane - and she's been having a bit of trouble with it, always unconsciously straying to the right a bit. She's not exactly happy with it.

Which is why Toriel's question is a welcome distraction from the experience.

"Oh, um. Sure. Can I sit down first, though?"

[inruins]

The boss monster nods, the straying didn't go unnoticed but she isn't about to fuss over it. "Ah, of course- let's find a spot to settle." Robin isn't one for fussing, even from those well intentioned.

She steps into the garden, a bench lays near the entrance thankfully enough. "We can settle down here if you wish?"

A

[buttmurdered]

Leonardo's getting used to this ship - he's a quick study, and life back home is far weirder than this ship could ever be, so he's not doing too badly. He's less alarmed over, well, everything, than he had been a few days ago, and taking his time discovering new areas of the ship, or pausing to stare out into the stars.

He's on his way to do so, actually, before this goat woman addresses him and he glances up, eyes closed, to give her a polite smile. He doesn't seem to be at put off by her appearance, if he can even see her with his eyes closed...?

"A joke? Right now?"

And a pause. "Oh, sure! Tell me."

[inruins]

She doesn't recognize Leonardo, that is more than enough for Toriel to guess he's a new arrival. She certainly doesn't know everyone aboard, but she tries to have some sense of who is who. "Any time is a time for a joke, dear." She offers with a low chuckle of her own and tilt of her head.

When Leonardo agrees, Toriel happily starts off. "What word is always spelled wrong in the Dictionary?"

a

[worn_wings]

A little more than a week into his unanticipated intergalactic vacation, and Daryl is adjusting to being in space.

Okay, sort of starting to adjust. Some things come easier than others. Like, turning a corner and having a stranger talk to him, still unsettling but not a huge deal. Except when the stranger is apparently-- an alien? Shit.

He stops stock still and blinks at the giant goat-creature for a moment too long before his brain catches up enough to parse the question.

"What?"

[inruins]

"Would you like to hear a joke?" She repeats with a fang-y smile, hoping to encourage a yes out of the young man. She claps her hands together smiling down at him.

Daryl's adjustment period so far has not likely prepared him for a giant fanged goat monster who sounds like a middle aged mom.