KNOCK ON WOOD - Old Home 2 (Ch.9)

November 4, 2077

Toriel

Things were going well, all told. There hadn’t been any further quakes in almost two weeks now, and monsters were getting settled.

Toriel had forgotten just how large Old Home was, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever realized how many monsters still called the Ruins home after all this time. There must have been thousands living in those old dilapidated buildings, and Refuge Row, as many had taken to calling it, simply wasn’t up to the task of holding every last one.

Even now, there were monsters who still lived in Old Home, having been mercifully unaffected by the disaster. Some, to Toriel's astonishment, had somehow not noticed that anything had been wrong until they ventured out to find their favorite shops completely deserted. Some of them were types of monsters Toriel hadn’t known lived there, and some she’d actually thought extinct, like the basilisk living under the old Home School. The poor dear had spent so long without contact that she’d misplaced her old shades and had been forced to navigate the wrecked streets with a wing over her eyes, lest she petrify someone.

Some had decided to make the most of their predicament. Having judged the row of tents to be insufficient for the long term, several Loox and Migosp had begun stretching into adjacent rooms of the labyrinth, building more permanent homes from rubble and loose bricks pulled from the city. Some had even found bricked-up rooms that had been abandoned for reasons no one could remember and smashed their way inside. The spiders had found lots of those crawling through cracks in the walls, and were charging for the locations.

(Last Toriel heard, one of them was trying to charge rent based on a finder’s keeper’s claim, but she doubted that would go over well.)

But while some were willing to settle in new, safer areas, others were adamant about returning Home. Toriel and many others weren’t sure it was stable yet, but they insisted, and, well…

…Toriel couldn’t begrudge them. Monsterkind as a whole had lost homes too many times already. But it couldn’t happen without some effort.

At least Toriel could finally call herself a teacher, because she was assigning a lot of Home-work, ha!

She snorted to herself. Oh, that was a good one.

She and the biggest, strongest monsters she could find were sweeping the city, looking for danger spots where a building might be in danger of collapsing, fixing it if they could, and marking it for later if they couldn’t. The other monsters were mostly just identifying problems; Toriel expected to be doing most of the heavy-lifting, and quite literally at that. As a Boss Monster, she was strong enough to lift most rubble and durable enough to handle it falling on her. There might be other monsters who could claim that, but none lived in the Ruins.

But goodness, she’d forgotten how big the city was. There was so much to do. And there was always more coming. She hadn’t even gotten to meet her friend by the door recently… maybe she could sneak away, just for a bit?

Pausing to lean against a lamppost, Toriel yelped as her weight sent the pole tilting with a creak of metal. A pane of glass fell out of the rusting lamp and shattered on the ground, and Toriel sighed. No, there was too much to do. She hoped her friend wasn’t worried about her.

Toriel pulled the planks off a door and walked inside. Or tried too; the rotten floorboards inside gave way the instant she stepped inside. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. It looked like this building was boarded up because the ground floor had partially collapsed into the basement, and time had not done the remaining wood any favor. The ceiling was sagging alarmingly, too. The walls were fine though, she found, giving the stone a solid pat. The building was in no danger of collapsing, and if they could clear the floors out they could be replaced. Or they could just build a staircase from the front door down into the basement, and… have a really tall ceiling. She marked the building’s address under ‘low priority’ and moved on.

A scraping sound had her looking back the way she’d come, and saw a pair of large Migosp emerging from an alley, carrying most of a large pillar between them. One of them waved at her, taking a hand off his load and nearly losing his grip. They continued across the street to another alley, where they used the pillar as a ram to knock a hole in a fence large enough for them to get through. Toriel made a mental note to ask what that was about later.

She’d spent far too long secluding herself from the monsters of the Ruins. For many years, she’d interacted only with shopkeepers and the odd Froggit who wandered into the labyrinth. Toriel had made assumptions, ones that she was regretting now that she’d been forced back into a role of authority and found them all wrong.

So many years spent alone, when she could have been more involved. Maybe if she had been she could have led restoration efforts ages ago. Maybe the Ruins could have been a grand city again. Maybe it would be in good enough shape that the recent collapses wouldn’t have done as much damage.

Maybe if she’d given them more room to play, the others wouldn’t have left.

Toriel’s chest clenched at the thought, and she had to take a moment to calm herself.

There was a new chance to correct past mistakes. The new human child, who wore that strange outfit… Toriel swore that as soon as she was sure there would be no more falling walls, the human would have free run of Old Home. The monsters had proven that they bore no ill will towards them, and indeed they seemed to be growing fond of the little scamp.

Aside from lending a helping hand everywhere they went, they’d started challenging monsters to fights, which… well, it had been alarming at first, but from what she’d heard the child had yet to throw a single attack. In fact, monsters that fought them often came away from the encounter feeling better.

---------------------

Yesterday

The Loox glowered at them, arms crossed. “Don’t pick on me!”

Frisk stood there, blank-faced. They might as well have been a statue for how unmoving they were.

The Loox relaxed. “Finally, someone gets it. You’re alright, kid.”

---------------------

It did her heart good to see them all getting along.

It was just a shame that she hadn’t been able to interact with them much, as busy as she was. Toriel was so very, very busy trying to keep the Ruins in order. Honestly, she was just… tired.

As she lifted a downed lamp post out of the street, Toriel groaned as her back popped painfully.

“Goodness,” she huffed. “I’m too old for this…” Toriel arched her back until it popped back into place. “Maybe I should take a short break… Yes, I could stop for a cup of tea. And there wouldn’t be any harm in visiting the door while I’m there.”

She nodded to herself and got going.

Toriel decided to cut through an alley when she ran into the human and their ghost friend. Or rather, through. “Oh! Hello there, you two.”

-------------------------------

Frisk

Purple. Purple bricks, purple road, violet buildings, amethyst roofs, lavender sidewalk, plum furniture, lilac benches, everything was so aggressively purple, and Frisk was losing their mind.

If it weren’t for the red leaves that lined the hallways, Frisk might have wondered if other colors had ever existed. They were so tired of purple.

Blowing air through their lips, Frisk kicked a rock (purple) across the ground (purple), until a small pothole forced it to stop. They kicked it once more when they reached it again, much harder, and it sailed into a disused planter and hit a dead tree (gray, but in this light it looked purple).

Frisk would take a bite out of the fossilized cheese if it meant they could see something other than purple.

They told Napstablook as much, and the ghost smiled sympathetically. “it’s true. i prefer blue, myself.”

The musical monster had taken to hanging around Frisk while they explored the Ruins of Home. It was a mutually beneficial relationship, honestly; Napstablook’s presence did something to the radio that made it play background music, which made exploring more entertaining. The ghost didn’t feel intimidated by Frisk because they were generally quiet even when they could get themselves to talk, and a child besides, while Frisk liked having ‘adult supervision’ so that Toriel couldn’t get upset at them for leaving the main hallways. That Napstablook had more of an idea of what to expect in the Underground was helpful too.

Frisk patted their vaultsuit. “B-Blue like this?”

The ghost shook their head. “darker. deeper. spookier.” They sighed. “i wish i could go back home to waterfall…”

Frisk considered that while they walked. As they passed a bench, Frisk rapped their knuckles on the seat. “There’s a waterfall in the--down here?”

The ghost sighed again. “oh… loads… that’s why the area’s called waterfall. because of all the… waterfalls. it’s nice. relaxing. or… it was, until recently.”

They stopped and looked around. They’d come upon a sort of pavilion that looked like it had once been a lovely park. There was even some grass that wasn’t completely brown, here and there. The buildings around the park were almost completely intact for once; Frisk could only see two broken windows from where they were standing, even!

“This must be… where some of the monsters lived before e-everything.”

Napstablook looked around. “oh, yeah. it’s basically the center of home, now…” They coughed. “my cousin says so, anyway…”

The shape of the space was familiar somehow. It tickled at the back of Frisk’s mind. Great big grassy field, benches placed in a peculiar formation on two sides of it in a little dug-out pit… Frisk’s brow wrinkled in thought. There weren’t any trees, but there were stumps where trees used to be, in a rough diamond formation. They weren’t exactly at each corner, though, the furthest one was actually near the center of the field. It almost looked like…

Location discovered: Home Base

Frisk sat down on the nearest stump and made a face. “Why is it a baseball field?”

“oh… i dunno. what’s baseball?”

Frisk shrugged. It wasn’t really important. “What’s… Waterfall like?”

Napstablook’s eyes watered, but Frisk didn’t pay it any mind. They’d figured out that the ghost cried really easily. They politely ignored it and listened as they walked around the diamond.

“it’s… nice. quiet, usually. you can go anywhere in waterfall and hear running water and babbling brooks… and it isn’t purple,” they added, the ghost of a smirk flashing by so fast Frisk wasn’t sure it had actually happened. Frisk chuckled in response. “...blook family farms is in central waterfall. my family’s been farming snails since before the barrier went up. not too long it was me and my cousins, and life was… pretty okay.”

Napstablook smiled nostalgically, but their expression slowly fell. “...wikihoward left to find a body years ago. they found that dummy in these ruins and settled down here. they sent letters every now and then, and we missed him, but wiki was always the quiet sort. without them, mads had a harder time controlling their anger, and they spent less and less time at home and when they were they were unbearable. but metta was the one i was closest to, and as long as we had each other… but then he went away without saying anything.” Napsta was crying in truth, now. “it’s just me, all alone on the farm. and now i don’t even have that, because waterfall’s gone rotten…” They sniffed, hiccuping. “oh no… i’m sorry, you don’t need to listen to my prob… lems?”

Napstablook became aware that they’d been floating alone for several yards, and turned to see Frisk standing still a ways back. “oh… i’m sorry, i left you behind…”

Frisk didn’t respond as Napsta approached. They stared straight ahead, hair covering their eyes and the rest of their face completely void of expression. The ghost noted with some concern that their knuckles had turned white around their stick. Was that supposed to happen to humans?

“hello? human? uh, frisk?”

Frisk shuddered, and like flipping a switch they were all sympathetic smiles again. “O-Oh, sorry. I got… lost in thought.” They cleared their throat with a cough. “So, you farmed snails?”

Napstablook looked at them, wondering if they should ask… but they didn’t have the nerve. “yeah… also some other bugs and some water plants… but snails are the best source of meat in the underground.” They paused. “...or they were… i hope they’re doing okay, in all that…”

The child gave them a confused look. “But I th-thought monster food was just magic?”

“Well--ohhh…”

Whatever they were going to say was cut off when Toriel suddenly walked through them, emerging from an alley as they passed.

She blinked, eyes refocusing, and then smiled down at them. “Oh! Hello there, you two.”

“Hi!”

“h-hello…” The ghost wavered like fog from the unexpected disruption.

“I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Napstablook, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” Toriel said. She made an aborted move like she wanted to help them, before realizing there was nothing she could do and instead simply clasped her hands together in front of herself.

“it’s fine… i’ll… live. heh.”

Toriel’s smiled became a little more genuine. “I trust you two are staying out of trouble?”

Frisk nodded. “W-What are you d-doing?”

“I am simply heading to my home for a small break. Perhaps a snack…” Toriel looked conflicted for a moment before asking, “Would either of you like to come? It has been some time since I tried to make ghost food, but I believe I can manage.”

Frisk hummed, thinking. They weren’t feeling particularly hungry. Napstablook simply shrugged as much as a flying sheet was able to, not caring one way or another. Their decision was made, however, when their Pip-boy pinged and displayed their slowly growing map of the Ruins.

Ruins Map: 52% Complete.

They were interested in finding the edge of the city.

So they shook their head. “Not r-right now. Enjoy your b-break!”

Toriel tried not to look too relieved. “As you wish. And stay safe!” she called as FRisk set off again. They waved back at her and went down the main street, near the home plate.

She watched them go until they turned a distant corner, and sighed. At least she could rest a little easier knowing the human wasn’t exploring alone. Toriel wasn’t entirely certain how effective a guide the ghost was, but she trusted them to help diffuse any conflicts. Most monsters weren’t willing to fight ghosts; it was awfully frustrating dealing with an opponent you couldn’t hit, after all.

Toriel turned back to her original path. Her armchair was calling for her, and she had no intention to keep it waiting much longer.

-----------------------------------

A Little Later

Toriel sighed happily. The second she walked inside, she felt herself slipping into the comfort of long-running routine. She idly wiped clean any surfaces that had grown dirty in her absence. Monster food didn’t go bad, so she set about firing up her oven. The human child would undoubtedly appreciate a slice of pie, as would any other monster who got to it in time. After she’d had a piece of her own, of course.

Easing into her chair, the plush cushion sank underneath her, and her aches and pains seemed to melt away. Anything monsters used for a long time, and loved, absorbed a little bit of their magic and became better at their job over time. Toriel had had this chair for a very long time indeed, meaning that it was a very good chair.

Before she even realized it, she found herself nodding off, only jerking awake when the oven beeped to tell her it was done preheating.

Normally Toriel would cook the food by hand with magic, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so today--too tired. And so the pie went in the oven, and she had time to pass before it was done.

She found herself wandering around the house. It felt… empty. It always had, of course, but after so much time spent among the other monsters of the Ruins, she’d grown accustomed to company. Toriel wasn’t sure she’d be able to go back to keeping to herself when… if everything went back to normal.

In the hallway, there was a dresser. There was nothing on top of it, nor for that matter on any surface in her home save for her bedroom. But she still kept the pictures, like the one she found herself now pulling out of the dresser drawer. The purple frame was worn with age, but the glass was clean and undamaged and the picture inside was pristine. Four happy faces.

Toriel put the frame back down on top of the dresser. After a moment, she set it face down instead.

Gaze shifting towards the stairs, Toriel reflected as she found herself walking down. Things… things had been unexpectedly good, in spite of the disasters going on. The human seemed happy in a way none of… the others, had. They’d shown no inclination to leave, had barely even asked about the space outside the Ruins.

She wished she could believe it would last.

Perhaps she was being pessimistic, but it had happened six times before. Toriel had no reason to believe it would be different for number seven. She still hadn’t even asked their name, and only now realized it.

Before she knew it Toriel found herself in front of the door to the outside for the first time in over a month. She hadn’t even really meant to come down here. Old habits, she supposed. She eased herself down and sat with her back against the door, still thinking.

Absent-mindedly, she knocked twice, not really expecting a response. After all, it had been some time and they’d not necessarily always come to the door at the same time--

“who’s there”

Toriel smiled, then floundered for a setup. “Ah… bless.”

“bless who”

“Bless you!” she finished, a tad weakly.

“...i don’t ge-heh-heh--achoo!!” The monster on the other side sneezed violently, and then let out a disgustingly thick sniffle. “hey, wow, how’d you do that?”

“Lucky guess.” She sighed. “I apologize my friend. I fear I am not on my ‘A-game,’ as the kids say.”

“hey, s’all good. makes two of us.” The familiar sounds of him collapsing against the door emt her ears; a series of oddly melodic clattering and shifting fabric. “i’m so under the weather, i need an umbrella”

“I’m sorry to hear that. …Is there anything I can get you?” she offered.

“nah, my bro made me soup. or something he calls soup, anyway. want some?”

Toriel, despite the wall between them, raised her hand in a placating gesture. “Oh, I couldn’t impose--”

“sure you could, here”

A weight fell into her hand, and Toriel blinked at the warm thermos that was abruptly within her possession. “How…?” Curiously, she opened it up. Her nose wrinkled. “My word, what in the world?”

“your word is right. he called it alphabet soup, but, uh…”

“There is only spaghetti noodles in…” Toriel sniffed, then winced. “Pickle brine?”

“it’s a pickle alright,” the other agreed easily. He sneezed again. “not bad for one of his though”

“My condolences.” She replaced the lid and set the thermos aside. As soon as she took her eyes off it, it was gone again.

“yeah, there’s a bug going around,” her friend explained. Toriel could swear she heard him grinning. “the doctors are trying to insect the possible causes, but gnat-urally it’s going at a snail’s pace. My ant isn’t going to let that fly, so she’s grass-hopping mad. Whatever the cure is, I hope it’s low-cost, but then again the farms can’t take much more.”

Toriel snickered into her hand. “I think you lost track of the metaphor at the end there, friend.”

“gimme a break, i’m sick. i know the jokes are corny, but they’re all i could think of while wandering my bro’s maize.”

“I’m sure a better one will crop up eventually,” Toriel returned.

“eyyyyyyy, there you go”

They traded puns and jokes back and forth for a while longer, but after a time Toriel’s thoughts turned back to her recent concerns and she grew more solemn. Her friend noticed immediately.

“hey, lady, what’s eating you?”

“I don’t want to burden you with my problems…”

“what are friends for” He paused. “i wet the bed until i was thirteen.”

Toriel choked. “What?!”

“yeah, it took me that long to learn not to bring soda to the bed without a lid.” He basked in her resultant giggles. “okay, i told you my embarrassing issues. your turn.”

She forced herself to calm down until the giggles faded away. “Alright, alright.” She paused, unsure, then steeled her resolve and plunged ahead. “There is… a human, here in the Ruins.”

“...huh”

The silence on the other side of the door was deafening.

“...what are you going to do about it?” he eventually asked.

“So far? Nothing.” Toriel groaned. “I haven’t been able to take care of them as much as I want to. The earthquakes caused so much damage in Home that I have been swamped keeping everything from falling apart.”

“but they aren’t… dangerous?” he asked, tense.

“The child? Oh my, no. They’re an absolute sweetheart. Almost all of the monsters in here love them.”

“good. that’s… good” he said, sounding relieved. He coughed loudly. “jeez, if i had a lung i’d have coughed it up by now… now. i don’t think you’d have brought them up if there werent any issues”

“Unfortunately, you are correct,” she conceded. “The Ruins are small, comparatively. I fear the human will eventually grow tired of being confined here and will seek to explore the rest of the Underground.”

“...then stop them?”

“...” Toriel shook her head, knowing he couldn’t see her. “Were it that simple. I am pulled in many directions. It would be all too easy for them to slip past me while I am distracted.”

“hm”

“...My friend, can I ask something of you.”

The other monster was silent for a long moment. “...of course.”

“If the human ends up outside the Ruins… will you look after them?”

“...look, uh, lady--”

“I know I ask much of you with this,” Toriel added hastily. “But I fear for them. I have seen them interact with monsters; they do not attack, even when it would be their best option. And the monsters here are particularly conflict-averse. Outside, against those who would actually hurt them, they would suffer for their pacifism. I don’t ask you to do much, simply to… guide them. If you can.”

“...” He groaned. “i hate making promises…” Toriel clasped her hands together. “...but i’ll do it for you, lady.”

She sagged in relief. “Thank you, my friend. Knowing that takes a weight off my mind. Rest assured, I will endeavor to keep them from leaving… but just in case.”

“s’all good.”

“Now…” Toriel frowned, and sniffed the air. “...Oh dear. I forgot I had a pie in the oven. Friend--”

“go on. talk to you again later.”

Toriel hurried away.

Left behind, the voice behind the door sighed. “the things I promise. ‘yes, papyrus, i’ll eat you spaghetti.’ ‘sure, al, i’ll watch that with you.’ ‘yeah, i can keep the human safe.’ stupid promises.” He tapped the door twice before standing up, rubbing the damp spots on his pants. “hopefully it won’t come up…”

------------------------------

“...but i know my luck.”

Frisk followed the wall with one hand on the bricks, looking down as they got lost in their head. They’d known the Ruins were an enclosed space, but finding the edge made it more real. It was almost a little claustrophobic to think about, so they didn’t.

At the moment they planned to trace the perimeter of the city and then start making their way back. After that, maybe they’d start looking for more Vault pieces?

“oh, uh, frisk…” Napstablook said.

“Hm?”

“Howdy!”

Ghost and human stopped at the call, and they looked up to see Flowey ahead of them, sprouting out of a pile of rubble in front of a Vault hallway.

“Howdy, Frisk!” he said again, bouncing slightly. “You exploring? Sure you are!” he said, before they could answer. “You should come see this!”

He pointed with his petals towards the wall… or rather, the great big hole in the wall.

Main Quest Update:

A World In Ruins

• Figure out what comes next
• Follow Flowey