#theriverperson

[badmusejail]

@theriverperson

Oh. Gaster started, nearly falling out of his chair and getting tangled in the variety of wires he had stuck to him.

How long had they been standing there...?

He only happened to notice because his mind had drifted while letting the test run.

Ah shit--

He quickly peeled off the stickers, ignoring the warning of the computer and,, ahhh, he didn't want to teleport too much, but they already knew he could do it so what did it matter--

So he appeared beside them, only mildly flustered and flattening out his coat.

Oh, and buttoning his shirt, because he had it entirely undone.

"Good evening," he stated. He didn't actually have any idea what time it is.

"While I don't mind you dropping in without warning, if I'm aware I could make sure the elevators are actually on."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

@theriverperson

With the emergence of monsters, something entirely unexpected for someone who was constantly learning new things about the human realm and hadn't even so much as heard of them before, Valor found himself being a little more risky with his magic usage than usual. It still might make something of a scene if someone found him using it, but at least he'd no longer be a unique person to point to.

So it was that he was using magic at the stream today. Not for anything serious. He just wanted to hold a crayfish, really, so he was lying on his stomach with one hand in the water, the other holding his staff to cast first a summoning spell and then a calming spell on the crayfish that had crawled up onto him. It snagged the mealworm he'd put on his hand to make up for the disturbance, and Valor just laid there to watch it eat.

[drops-of-kindness]

@theriverperson 🌻 hope this is good ! - Flowery had always enjoyed Waterfall. It was always the calmest place in the Underground, and they often found themself wandering through it.

They knew the layout by heart, so their blindness wasn't a problem here. Still, they weren't quite sure where they had found themself this time. It was calm, and rather quiet, but Waterfall tended to be. Even in their own timeline it was always the most peaceful.

Humming softly to themself, Flowery found their way to... the shop, wasn't it? Ah, yes, there was a chest they came to know, so they must be by Gerson's shop now. Pausing, Flowery considered where to go. They didn't often stop by here, neither with Gerson nor to use the ferry. Perhaps they should visit the River person? They might know if their Sans had shown up here...

With their decision made, Flowery made their way south, quiet as they heard the gentle sounds of the river. If nothing else, it would be nice to sit and enjoy a ferry-ride.

[frozenfischer]

Training Start!

@theriverperson

It took about a week for Alex to actually get back in touch with River, and when she does it's via text.

Alex Hey there. This is Alex. Sorry it took me so long to get back in touch with you. Took a bit to comb through my schedule and find a few days here and there that I should be good to at least get started.

What followed were a list of dates for the next couple of months, showing a few sets of days where she has a couple days off from both classes and teaching back to back.

Alex These should give me time to recover afterwards if needed, at least until the end of the summer semester. Let me know if any of these days work for you, and we can try and work around your schedule too.

[badmusejail]

(Gaster resisted the urge to comment. He'd long since mastered the standard QWERTY layout in favor of efficiency. There was no way he could have survived in his job with a slow typing speed.)

Well, there was no harm in sending the text now.

Typing together a quick message that absolutely certainly definitely did not contain a terrible pun, he sent it off and tucked his phone back away in his coat.

"I am not very busy, outside of the meetings."

That was to say, everything else he did was done whenever he felt like it and could be arranged around any scheduled sort of event.

"But in that case, I wish you the very best."

He would get up to head home, but they were sort of in the way.

When River took Gaster's phone to enter their contact information something about the way they interacted with technology became immediately noticeable to anyone who was at all familiar with it.

River also typed like an old man.

That is to say, they took the phone and held it in one hand while pointing at it with the other and used that one finger to type everything out, pausing after each and every key press to seek out the next one.

And it took ages.

Well, not literally, but figuratively.

Once they had (finally) finished, they handed the phone back to Gaster and instructed him, "send me a message so I have yours as well, when you have the time. In the meanwhile, I believe I should be going home to be, if not asleep, then at least horizontal for a while."

They were still leaning against Gaster's shoulder. They either hadn't noticed or didn't mind.

A yawn was pulled from them when they spoke once more, "though again, I would enjoy spending some time with you again. Perhaps something of your choosing next, I will ensure I fashion myself an amulet to wear so we will not be so limited."

[theriverpersonshadow]

Tralala, I have recently discovered this strange human thing in the trash. Apparently humans have "Birth Certificates." Why? I would think that of all creatures, humans would be the least insecure about when and how they come to be, Tralala… *The Riverperson seems a little bitter about this.*

[theriverpersonshadow]

Is this an(other) AU?

Maybe? I mean, I consider it mostly compliant to canon, but with a little inspiration from zarla's Handplates AU (not heavily and probably won't come up often, but important) and a few other gaps filled in. The Riverperson is one of these gaps. Frisk may eventually show up if this goes long enough, but the setting is pre-Frisk, around the time of having 5 souls. However, this is an offshoot timeline and things went a little different this time around…

[theriverpersonshadow]

How do I art style? Glowing is easy. Shading is hard.

[badmusejail]

"What's the worst that could happen?"

Enjoying the water himself, he didn't consider the fact that to someone not well acquainted with his apparent immortality would probably have a much different answer to that question.

He was content so long as his head remained above the water; and given the fact that he likely wouldn't fall asleep, it wasn't a concern.

"I've always preferred the heat, though. I guess there's no real reason for it, but... I guess for most of my life I just told myself it was a skeleton thing.

"Maybe I just wanted to feel like I had..."

Mmm. Best not to go into that.

"But, given my sons moved to Snowdin, that was obviously wrong."

An incredulous snort came from River at the mention of bathing in magma. Settling a bit, they end up mostly-submerged with their head really only out of the water for convenience's sake than anything else.

"One day, perhaps," they say to the idea of whatever Gaster considered hot water. They wondered if the experience was survivable.

With a chuckle, they asked him, "are you quite sure you didn't end up part Fire instead when the accident happened?" Was it too soon to be joking about that? They hoped not. "Because I'm sure we could ask one of the vulkin to recommend a good, deep patch of molten fire if you really wanted to scald yourself."

Though, at least in their experience, most skeletons with Fire up the family line tended to be quite.. obvious. It was the whole 'walking around constantly on fire' thing. Gave the game away. They chuckled again, because while they didn't often divulge it the shadows their magic made were water, in a way. A more symbolic way, but still.

Idly, they slipped further down into the tub and closed their eyes, scooting closer and leaning against Gaster's arm once more. This was nice.

[theriverpersonshadow]

Tralala, I seem to have opened an ask account without realizing I must turn on asks! How embarrassing! It's fixed now!

[theriverpersonshadow]

Tralala, putting skeletons and boats together sounds quite like putting together sandpaper and pudding, not necessarily a bad idea, but you’d think it’d only happen once! Perhaps if Doctor Gaster wanted more skeletons he should’ve turned to interdimensional travel instead of cloning.

———

Pfft, I’m just messing around, I love these skeletons. The idea hit me at 1:30 in the morning so here I am at 2 posting it XD. Maybe I’ll go back and color it at some point, but until then, here you go! (She says to her audience of exactly 0 people ;u; ) The first skeleton is Herman. She belongs to @askfriskandcompany The second is @bun-bunmuse ’s Swap Gaster. The third is Harlow Garamond from @man-who-speaks-in-hands I also absolutely got the sandpaper and pudding line from there ^^’

I probably should’ve asked before posting this (but, like, two A.M.) so if any of you three want me to take it down I will.

[theriverpersonshadow]

Hmm? I get the feeling someone is watching me, tralala. Hello dear visitors, care for a ride on my boat? The rivers here in waterfall are certainly something to see, so I’ve heard. 

[badmusejail]

Gaster quirked a brow.

"My son is a hundred and thirty-seven. I'm fairly certain he counts as an adult in all jurisdictions, monster and otherwise."

Still young by certain standards and would always be his son, and Toriel was old enough that the relationship gave Gaster pause, but there was no argument that he wasn't an adult, no argument that he couldn't make his own choices.

(Was it because he was short? Or something about his and Papyrus's personalities?)

He glanced back to River briefly at their 'general rule,' deciding to keep it in mind.

Not that he expected to get involved with anyone else, but it was good to know nonetheless, especially when relationship types could vary so drastically.

"Oh yeah its a whole mountain of bullshit," Emma confirms with a nod at Gaster's words. "Don't tell your son, but I don't think they've realized he's an adult yet cause they were talking at one point about how sweet it is that she's helping raise a kid that isn't even hers."

For just a moment, River pictured how Sans might react to hearing that and decided then and there never to tell him.

At least some time during all of that them and Ava had managed to get his robe secured properly. She'd let them borrow her belt, which had been there purely decoratively, so the dark blue robe was now secured at waist level by a khaki belt with plastic daisies decorating it.

The other two girls just shook their heads, apparently used to all of this from this particular news anchor.

Robe secured, River sat back down in one of the chairs and looked to Gaster for a moment before replying to the others, "and it would take quite a lot of convincing to convince me to share a partner with anyone, much less either of the Dremurrs." They hesitated a moment before adding, "as a general rule."

They decided to leave the question of if themself and Gaster were any sort of official thing to Gaster. Yes, they'd told Gerson, but only that he'd agreed to let them try and Gerson was a good friend. The sorority girls were much newer friends and not privy to every detail of their life, especially those that involved others.

[frozenfischer]

A small frown tugged at Alex's mouth, and she hook her head. "Perhaps, but again, I would rather not make a habit of it," was all she could say, before she went to gather everything she'd left at the base of the tree.

She still really didn't feel like going to class, but she would somehow manage. Wouldn't be the first time she'd gone while exhausted. It was just usually caused by not sleeping well, rather than magical depletion.

River's complement had a wry smirk tug at one corner of her mouth into a lopsided smile. "Intelligent? Maybe. Stubborn more like, though. If I was truly that intelligent, I would have been done with my masters a couple years ago." She took a deep breath. "But in any case, I'm off for now. I'll talk to you later."

She paused, and added quietly, "And... thanks. For everything."

One of River's hands came up to make a sort of 'shh' motion before the shadows of their hood and they chuckled. "Shush, I like feeding people. It is no burden."

While Alex was worried about repayment, the thought of being paid for teaching magic had honestly never crossed their mind. She was in need of a teacher. They knew water magic. Seemed straightforward.

As she gathered her things, they stepped back over towards their boat and pondered the future a bit. If their visions held any truth she appeared to have the possibility to be quite the mage, given the chance. Curiosity had them wondering which way she might go.

Her mention of her schedule got a nod from them. "Quite the intelligent one," they compliment. Enough was known by them of how the college system worked to at least know that a masters was impressive. "I am sure once you will do well. For now, I shall ensure I get in contact with you some time after your classes."

[badmusejail]

"Yes, quite."

Ah, but...

He peered down at the discolored spot on his clothing.

They could be wet, but he didn't want to be. Eye shimmered a moment as he focused down on it.

set bed.state.wet to false set gaster.state.wet to false

Better.

Again, he wouldn't likely actually sleep, but... He'd be on guard. In case any other visitors showed up.

"Good night."

River shivered at the combination of the whisper and the light touch like it was some sort of revelation to them, but whatever that revelation was they seemed to choose to keep to themself for now.

Maybe if they buried their head into his chest enough they could pretend like they'd fallen asleep or something...

Probably not.

Quietly, with a slight squeak to their voice, they suggested, "perhaps we should both retire for the evening." They did need rest after all. Both of them, really.

"I'm rather tired after all, aren't you?" Less squeaky, but still partially muffled by Gaster's shirt. "Sleep sounds wonderful. We should do that."

Ah. They were rambling again. Not the 'I'm going to lecture about this fascinating topic' rambling they tended towards either.

Reaching for the covers, they went to pull them up over the two of them and decided to at least mime making the attempt.

[scientistredacted]

❝WE HAVE SEVERAL ON STAFF,❞ Gaster says distantly to the Riverperson's inquiry, not catching the quick glow under their hood, ❝AS FAR AS WE CAN TELL, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MAGMA. ALL EVIDENCE POINTS TO IT BEING AN ISSUE WITH THE CORE ITSELF. NOTHING TO DO WITH.❞

And of course, none of this is helped by their persistent issues with staffing. Their infuriating issues with staffing. He doesn't know how they're so persistently understaffed, because they've done so many interviews.

❝I APPRECIATE THE THOUGHT THOUGH,❞ he sighs, ❝I ALSO WOULD APPRECIATE NOT BEING FORCED TO TAKE A DAY OFF WHILE ITS SO UNSTABLE, BUT YOU CAN'T CONTROL THE KING...❞

He's just venting in that really. He absolutely, resolutely, does not want to go home for a day, but the Riverperson has nothing to do with that.

Perhaps the clear weariness was why the scientist had decided to take the boat home today. Reaching out with their magic, they grabbed more of the current than they usually did, to ensure the trip went as smoothly as possible.

When Gaster spoke the first time, they did a bit of a double take between the Hands and the words they heard. Both because of the difference of tempo and because they almost recognized what he was saying from his speech rather than just the Hands.

Some form of Dingbat font. They were familiar enough with Lucida Icons and a few of its related fonts that they almost understood some of what he was saying and Gaster may overhear them trying to quietly sound out one or two of the closer sounds, which were still entirely off. While River could understand many Dingbat fonts they'd never been able to even start wrapping their mouth around the sound of them.

They had honestly forgotten the rumor that the royal scientist spoke an unusual font.

The statement regarding the power surges was an interesting one. One that captured their attention and had them considering. Power surges in the CORE? It was built onto the magma pool and had something to do with magic, they knew, but that was about the end of any knowledge of it beyond speculation.

Still, it did give them an idea. "Have you tried asking the fire or earth elementals?" Their eye lights glowed cyan in their curiosity, under the shadow of their hood. Just for a few moments, as they'd turned to look at him. Though said shadow also darkened it so significantly it likely made it difficult to even tell.

"I would start with those of magma, if you have not already," they offered as a potential solution. Assuming the scientist even cared to hear it, they were well aware of just how far behind they were there (which bothered them on occasion).

"If there is something with the mountain itself causing magical fluctuations, they would know best, after all. Especially if it is far below, deep in the magma chamber where the rest of us haven't a chance at getting close."