Upon our return to the campfire, Firhaur introduced me to Dagiel and Princess Toriel. I was also told that they had seen some of my inventions on a visit to the town I went to, and had Firhaur had wanted to talk to me. I was mildly impressed that the princess had come out into the mountains herself, and I would later learn that she was one of the strongest people I would ever meet.

I also refused to give Dagiel his jacket back. It was mine, now. And I was going to keep it for years to come.

Here in the Void, it is impossible to sleep. I can drop into a state nearly resembling sleep, but in reality, it is closer to simply shutting down. My mind just stops, what little warmth in my Soul that has survived the cold of the Void completely ices over. I become little more than an inedible vegetable.

But that night, I think, I slept deeply. I was not woken until Dagiel tried to steal back my jacket. I may or may not have punched him.

Not long after, we were on the move.

My house was about a five hours' walk away from our location, and I'll spare you most of the details, as little of import happened, aside from Firhaur and I talking. We had a lot in common, I found, the biggest difference in our personalities being that he tended to grant people a basic respect out of common decency, whereas I always assumed people were idiots until proven otherwise.

I also learned he was a lot smarter than I. (You should be taking this statement very seriously. There are very few people in the world who are smarter than me, and even fewer whom I will admit to being so.)

But, unlike I would have done in his place, he did not flaunt his intelligence. I don't think I ever saw him do something even nearing that once. Instead, he shared his intelligence, helped me.

In the five hours it took to reach my home, I was fully convinced Firhaur was someone deserving of respect.

That is one thing about him, though- while I think he appreciated people's respect, he rarely actively sought it out. He cared little what people thought of him, only just doing his best.

He was a very good person. Better, I think, than I have ever been, or ever will be.

Eventually, we reached my home.

The entrance was on a little plateau at the foot of a mountain. Said plateau had been taken over by my garden, a vast arrangement of plants, the uses of which varied from scientific experiment to food. I took pride in that garden. It was a lot of work.

The door of my house was a large stone slab. It had required an unbelievable amount of work, but I had gotten the door on a perfectly balanced mechanism. When the door was unlocked, it swung open with ease. When it was locked, it was near impossible to open.

Of course, the locking mechanism was a set of runes keyed to my Magic. There would be no trespassing in my home.

I couldn't understand but few of her words, but I could tell Princess Toriel was impressed by my garden.

"She says," Firhaur told me in Hands, "you have as much of a green thumb as her husband."

Dagiel was impressed with the door. He was a very military-oriented monster- there was a reason he was to become the Elite Captain of the Royal Guard- and the defensive strength of my home was something he respected.

And Firhaur was, as he said he would be, impressed with my work. When I first lit the Magic crystals that illuminated my home, he had grinned widely.

And when I showed him my rudimentary lab, he was astonished. "You built this yourself?"

"More than a decade of work." I confirmed.

He let out an appreciative murmur.

Night came, and I told my visitors I had nothing in the way of bedding for them. That was fine; Princes Toriel and Dagiel had their sleeping bags, and Firhaur just slept anywhere- his large bulk made it difficult to get bedding in a proper size for him, anyway.

They slept. I did not. I had gotten a full night's sleep the night before, and instead set about constructing a new flyer. I had a considerable amount of fiberglass left over from some previous project, and in a few hours, I had completed the flyer's frame.

Doing the runes was a bit trickier. Those had to be planned out down to the smallest detail, and writing things out on paper was hard, as you can channel Magic into the pencil-on-paper runes just as well as the carved-into-fiberglass runes.

By morning, I was less than an eight of the way done with my planning, and I was getting a headache. Firhaur's suggestion, while applicable in theory, was still a difficult one to put into practice. Some of these rune patterns. I came up with on the spot, cobbling them together like long disused words into a strange and foreign sentence.

It was not an easy feat, and even I became frustrated with my task. So I rose from my seat and headed for the cavern that served as my kitchen and dining room.

The trio of visitors were there, apparently having woken up and begun a raid on my pantry. When they saw me enter, Firhaur began to speak.

I lifted a hand, though, index finger pointed upwards in the universal sign for one minute. I was in need of good sustenance, in the form of a rather potent home brew. (Nothing anywhere near strong enough to get me drunk- especially considering my uncannily high alcohol tolerance- but a strong drought nonetheless.)

I reached the cupboard where I kept a good many things including several bottles of my home brew, pulled it open, then immediately slammed it shut again, leaning against it to ensure it stayed closed.

"Something wrong?" Firhaur's voice startled me. I had consciously forgotten I had guests.

"There's a... thing." I said. I wasn't quite sure what it was, still not sure to this day.

"What sort of thing?"

"... just a... thing."

Firhaur crossed the room, coming to stand beside me. "Well. Let's see this thing, then."

I didn't move. "I'm... not sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

I hesitated. This really was a peculiar thing to explain, as this cupboard and some of its contents occasionally seemed to transcend scientific law. "Lots of strange... odds and ends of my projects find their ways into this cupboard. Stuff like half built contraptions and items with a considerable amount of Magic residue in them, not to mention the socks and occasional Annoying Dog... The stuff just festers in there, and... strange things happen."

"Such as...?"

I blinked, then delivered the requested answer. "Semi-sentient, Magic-leeching molds, combustible molds, spontaneously combustible molds, poison secreting molds, Magical gas releasing molds, Annoying molds, Dog molds, Annoying Dog molds-"

"Alright, alright!" Firhaur cut me off, laughing. "I see where you're going with this. What's next, noxious fume producing molds?"

I gave him a look. "No, of course not. Don't be ridiculous."

He let out a huff of amusement. "Alright, Gaster, open the cupboard."

I shook my head, stepping back, my hands raised in surrender. "You can. Your funeral."

Despite my warning, Firhaur reached up and pulled open the cupboard. There was a sort of blorp sound, and Firhaur suddenly jerked his hand away with a roar, proceeding to wave his hand around wildly. Eventually, the black goop that had attached itself to his fingers slipped off, landing on the stone floor of the cavern, melting a small hole in said floor with a sizzle.

"Ooh," I deadpanned, reaching out to shut the cupboard before any more of the substance could escape, "an acidic, black, slime mold. That's a new one."

There was a panicked, urgent cry from Princess Toriel, I assume a questioning as to what happened.

Firhaur spoke to them in Common, gesturing along in Hands for my benefit. "An acidic black slime mold, apparently."

Through Firhaur, the princess's response was translated to me. "Why does he have an acidic black slime mold in his cupboard?"

"Weirder things have happened in that cupboard. Trust me, this is nothing new. Well. It is something new, I've never seen an acidic black slime mold before, but it's nothing exciting surprising new new."

Firhaur translated for the others. They both just sort of looked at me like I was insane. And I suppose I probably was, just a little. All the greatest people are.

Firhaur cleared his throat. "Ahem. Hrm. Well, then. Gaster. I have something to tell you. We were... talking, this morning. And I have decided I would like to offer you a position as-"

"No." I cut him off. "Absolutely not."

"But you haven't even heard-"

"I hate people."

He blinked a little. "That... I suppose I can respect that. But at least hear me out."

I rocked back a little on my heels, glancing with mild concern at the still-deepening hole the acidic black slime mold was still carving in the floor. Then I folded my arms across my chest and nodded a little for Firhaur to continue.

"I'm offering you a position as my personal assistant. Means you'll only have to deal with people minimally, and you'll be working in the Royal Lab. State-of-the-art facilities."

I shook my head again. "Let me just point some things out to you. I think people are idiots, and usually, people think I'm a jerk. We generally hate each other. Also, I was stuck or here because people were scared of my work, and I refused to stop working on it. I don't see how this will work in a peopled area like the Royal Lab."

Firhaur blew out a breath. "Well. There's not much I can do about the first thing. But, as Royal Scientist, the only people who can overrule my command are royalty. And you'd be only a step lower than me, meaning you'd get the run of the Lab. Total control over everyone else."

Firhaur was also a very good diplomat. He knew how to analyze people and tell them what he wanted was what they wanted, and actually convince them of it.

I fell prey to this.

"Fine. Let's go."

That very morning, we left my mountain home, trekking southward.

§

A/N

Can I be honest for a moment? After all the comments I got on the last author's note, I've been seriously debating writing a series of alternate scenes of how the meeting with Firhaur goes, all of which involve Gaster threatening Firhaur with a stick. I might actually do it. Maybe.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Votes and Comments are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!