(Panic! reference, anyone...?)

A bit uneasily, I was sitting around my round table, and these skeletons—not exactly the Knights I had always wished would sit here with me—weren't acting very politely or quietly.

One of them was demanding everything I had from my cupboards and threatening to kill me if I dared poison any of it (chunk missing from skull). Another was twirling around a sharpened bone in their hand, staring at me like they wanted to swallow my soul (hood up). Two were trying to converse about their situation, but while one of them was trying to speak in a low tone (paintbrush), the other was almost yelling without seeming to mean to (tiny).

"Okay, look," I began loudly, standing up from the table and putting my palms on it, leaning forward. "I know you guys are anxious about this whole situation, but as spooky voice lady (Destiny) told us all, it's going to be a couple months before I can get you guys home."

I made a point to look into every pair of sockets, some of which were looking at me angrily and defiantly, while others were silently guilty.

"So now, we are calmly and quietly going to introduce ourselves, so that things don't get complicated and so I don't have to call y'all Things 1 through 8. M'kay?"

I straightened, and put on my most friendly smile. "Hi, my name's Y/N. But you can called me Reader. ...'Cause I like to read."

I could almost hear the crickets chirping, but I did notice that some faces turned a bit shocked at my sudden switch of personality.

"Um..."—my anxiety kicked into gear—"I guess that's it about me...who wants to go next?"

Paintbrush dude raised his hand, waving it eagerly, along with tiny cutie.

With a genuine grin this time, I pointed at the tiny cutie. "How about you?"

"HELLO, MISS HUMAN!" he shouted energetically.

I winced in pity of my eardrums.

"Hello!" I replied with fake enthusiasm. My anxiety was still silently eating away at me, not quite finished with its meal. "What would your name be?"

"WELL, TECHNICALLY, I'M FROM UNDERSWAP, BUT MY FRIENDS CALL ME BLUE!"

I tilted my head, flashing him a smile and wondering what he meant by being from 'Underswap.' "Like the berry? Could I call you Blueberry? You look like a blueberry. Small and sweet and most importantly, blue! I rather like blueberries. Not only are they my favorite color, but they're much sweeter than blackberries. They're one of the sweetest berries out there!"

I giggled, before realizing that I was rambling. My stomach churned, but before my face could show anything, I put up my happy front and cleared my throat. "Sorry, I was rambling. I just go on tangents sometimes. Is that okay with you, though?"

His face was a bit blue—maybe that's blushing for them?—and he stammered, "S-SURE!"

I grinned. "Good! How about you?" I looked at paintbrush guy.

"i'm ink!" he answered cheerfully, twitching in his seat. "i like all kinds of artistry, but mostly the kinds that involve drawing! i basically just really like creating!"

I nodded in approval. "Nice. Anyone else want to go?" I surveyed the group.

Basically silence.

I scowled, facepalming. "Great. I got a bunch of mutes forced into my home."

I pointed at destiny guy, then commanded, "You go, then."

His (brow) furrowed, then he sighed, shrugging. "sure. name's classic. i like ketchup."

I made a mental note of that. "Right. Cool. So are you...like...the original, or something? Or the oldest? I mean, the name kinda gives that away."

He seemed a little guarded for a second. "...yeah. i'm the...'original,' out of these guys."

Note to self: Doesn't like being called the oldest.

"You, then?" I suggested, gesturing to Black-Boy.

He rolled his...eyelights. "fine. i'm error. i like silence."

I nodded approvingly again. "I appreciate that. I like silence as well. What about..."

Hesitantly, I picked missing-chunk guy. "You?"

He grinned at me, making this unsettling feeling dig into my stomach and making me shiver very visibly.

"horror. pleased ta meet ya. or, rather, eat ya."

I blanched, wringing my hands under the table. "Uh...cool, I guess." My gaze turned to gold-tooth. "What's your name?"

He grunted. "fell."

Note 3: 'Fell' doesn't like talking to people.

"Uh-huh. And...um..."

I looked to Lilac briefly, but he was still as a statue and as silent as one, too.

"Uh..."

I didn't want to make him suffer any longer than he had to. I saw the looks he was given, and I knew that these people were not his crowd.

My gaze, therefore, skimmed over him and turned to hood guy, who I found the most unnerving of all. "You, then. What's your name?"

He said nothing, just staring at me with that same judgmental and soul-eating stare.

I hated staring. I fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze.

After a minute of tolerating it, I snapped, "Are you gonna go or not?"

"why should i talk to you?" he chuckled, propping an elbow on the table and casually leaning his head in his palm, like he didn't just insult me. "you've done nothing to earn my respect or my trust. you don't deserve them, so i'm not going to tell—"

"Regret."

His face changed suddenly to be much more defensive and emotionless than before, although there was a twinge of shock in his sockets. "what was that?"

"Regret," I answered flatly. "It was rolling off of you in waves the minute you came here. You regret so much of what you've done, but you can't change the past. You also can't stop whatever it is that you're regretting. There's an external source that makes you do it."

I leaned even more forward, staring him straight in the sockets. "And you ignore the pain because you can't admit to yourself that everything you do is just feeding the cycle."

I leaned back, sitting down again.

Everyone looked tense, and the hood guy's sockets had gone black.

Nothing was said and no one moved for the longest time.

I held my breath, hoping that my judgement had proven correct.

"dust. the name's dust."

I looked at hood guy, whose eyelights were back and staring at the tablecloth instead of me.

"...Okay. Thank you."

He glanced up at me for a brief moment, before flicking his gaze back down.

I stood up once more—why did I sit down, again?—and announced, "Well, since we've all gotten acquainted with each other, why don't we head upstairs to the bedrooms?"

"you...actually have enough bedrooms for us?" Ink questioned, fingering these colorful vials that were attached to this sash along his chest.

"Yep!" I responded proudly, putting my fists against my hips.

Anyway, a herding of skeletons and stumbling up steep steps later, I gestured down the hallway in question. There were bedrooms as far as the eye could see (just in case more unexpected guests arrived (cough cough)).

I shoved each skeleton into their respective room (or, rather encouraged, especially for the scary ones {see: Fell, Horror, Dust}), saving the one I wanted to talk to last...

I turned to him after all of them were gone.

"Are you okay?"

Lilac looked down, playing with the ends of his sleeves. There was this unrevealing expression on his face that, at the same time, showed a hint of sadness and fear.

I sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder, which he flinched at.

"Look, I don't know if where you come from they hurt you or something, but even if things do go south, I'd be willing to protect you."

That got his attention. His gaze flickered up to me.

"I know how you feel," I said softly, squeezing his shoulder. "People don't like me either. But I still have a friend to watch my back. Could...could I, possibly, maybe, in any way available, watch yours?"

I knew my expression was too hopeful. But still, it was worth a shot. Even though I knew he would say no—

"Lust."

"Huh?" my mouth intelligently came up with as a reply, staring at him wide-eyed.

He gave me a small, but relieved smile. In all honesty...it was probably the prettiest smile I had ever seen.

"Lust," he repeated. "My name's Lust. Or, at least, that's where I came from."

"Huh," I said again, scratching my head. "That...doesn't seem right for you, if you don't mind me saying."

His mouth dipped. "Yeah. I just...well...I realized that that's not me."

"Well..." I ventured, "...maybe you'd like another name to go by?"

His gaze turned away as he considered, then back to me. "Sure. What did you have in mind?"

I glanced at his hoodie, back to him, then suggested, "Maybe...Lilac?"

He tilted his head in thought, then nodded. "That's fine."

I grinned. "Good."

Then I let him get situated as I merrily skipped to my own bedroom, going to get dressed and ready for the day.

(HELLO, MY FRIENDS! LUNAR HERE!

I'm just really pepped and excited for no reason!

Go check out 6 Skeletons, 1 Maid by RaccoonSinQueen! It's amazing!

I'm all over the place! I don't care!

Hope you like it! Have a lovely day/night/afternoon/morning/evening/whenever! Love you all!

Ciao, Lunarlings!

Lunar, signing off!)