Chapter Text
You know you have seen some shit when an interdimensional portal floating just in front of you is not enough to draw your attention from the relatively mindless task of typing.
The young woman on the bed focused intently on the movement of her fingers punching away at the lighted keys. Each vowel and consonant was given the utmost review, anything to distract from the shimmering and swirling ether just above and beyond the glowing screen.
This was not her first experience with such phenomenon but this particular appearance had been persistent. Previously her simple act of feigned ignorance had banished the swirling mass to… wherever it had spawned from. Several times in fact. But this one remained, pulsating ever so innocently at occasions.
The keystrokes slowed, a quick glance confirming that it was indeed still there. Her lips turned down into a sour curve before making a show of picking up her laptop and turning to face away on the plush covers.
A rather poor choice in reactions towards a supernatural force but an effective communication regarding her level of concern.
The silence all at once felt heavy, almost gaining a kind of weight to it, an emotion of exasperation. She knew it was not the wind coming from her (closed) windows that hit her back in the exhale of a sigh. And that the sudden pressure like the tug of an insistent child in her chest was reaction to her pointed display of nonchalance.
Heaving a groan of defeat, she clapped the laptop lid with more force then intended and cocked her head to look over her shoulder at the now rapidly shimmering cloud. “Alright, alright, you have my attention! I really don’t need this right now."
The portal pulsed happily, swirling blues and whites reminiscent of a gaseous galaxy dancing within. The woman sighed before grabbing her jacket off the head of her bed and a pair of shoes off her floor while making absolutely sure that her scowl and body language showed how unimpressed she was at her current situation.
There was a pulse of impatience from the portal and she rolled her eyes as she removed and pocketed her glasses. The last thing she would want is to lose those somewhere in the void she knew lay beyond the shimmering color. With a final huff she stepped forward, feeling the binding magic that shielded her world from any intruders within pass over her. She heard rather than saw the dimensional gateway close behind her and her world became black.
Blacker.
And blacker s t i l l.
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The sudden rush of sound was such a stark contrast to the absolute nothingness of the void that she was forced to take a minute, focusing on one sense at a time as a way to not only ground herself but to make sure nothing was left behind.
Her sense of hearing was first. Cars passed by below her, the shouting of voices and pounding of footsteps accompanied the cacophony of what she could safely assume was a city or at the very least a bustling town.
Her sense of smell was next. Hesitantly she sniffed the air, catching wafts of cigarette smoke, hotdogs, and gasoline. Her nose crinkled in disgust but she resisted the urge to cover it.
Taste followed shortly after smell, her sensitive nose all but guaranteeing that she would taste some of the scents as if she was actively consuming them. Her lips curled back in a grimace, mouth opening slightly as if she could release the mixture from her mouth. It didn’t help.
Her sense of touch was her next focus. Normally it would be the first she tried but the assault on her other senses had required immediate attention. She felt the rough denim of her black jacket against her finger tips, the wind against her face and ruffling through her hair (possibly a roof?) and the headache forming as everything started to slowly register.
She let out a sigh before finally opening her eyes, retrieving her glasses from the pocket she hid them in. She had been correct in assuming she was in a roof, though how high up had startled her slightly. She was in a rather large town, from the looks of it, a park to her right where a hot dog vender set up shop and something akin to a business district stretching to her left.
So far delightfully uneventful. She wondered how long that would last.
With a final grunt of agitation she turned and walked toward the ledge of the roof which dropped into an alleyway. Checking that the coast was clear she took one final step, acting for all the world as if there was not a drop of three stories awaiting her.
The very wind rose to greet her, slowing her decent to an almost stop before gently lowering her to the ground. Once her feet hit pavement she sent out a mental “thank you” as if to the very element itself before exiting the alley, intent on figuring out where this particular portal decided to drop her.
Turning away from the park she headed left, keeping her eyes peeled for a newspaper box or one of those windows full of TVs that she had honestly never seen outside of movies. After a block or so her already frayed patience gave out, making her release a frustrated sigh. She looked around impatiently before her eyes landed on a small group of people headed away from her on the opposite side of the street. Quickly making her way over to them, years of experience in customer service came to her aid as she plastered on a fake smile and friendly aura, calling out to the group ahead.
The group came to a halt, three bodies moving to look at the woman who was interrupting their stroll. “I’m so sorry to bother you but my phone died and I was hoping one of you had the time?” Her friendly smile and polite words seemed to put the strangers at ease as all three pulled out their phones. She managed to glance over the arm of the closest one as they read the time to her.
20XX? Why the “Xs?”
She gave them a chipper smile and a thanks before wandering off back towards the park, throwing a lie over her shoulder about a friend coming to meet her soon when one of the strangers offered to let her use their phone. She may be able to fake a lot of things, but phone conversations were not on that list. She passed by a coffee shop and paused, rustling around in her pockets for some money. Stars above knew how badly she needed something to stave off her headache and she may get lucky and find a newspaper in there. Most people nowadays were more focused on their phones so the possibility of finding one on the rack should be higher, right?
She breathed a sigh of relief as her fingers brushed the paper in her pocket before pulling it out to check. She hummed in discontent at the small amount before heading inside. Maybe just the paper and a black coffee, then.
After paying the barista and settling down in a corner chair away from everyone else she opened the newspaper, briefly wondering where the hell “Ebbott” is in terms of this universe’s geography. She’d check her phone but the thing rarely worked properly during these type of escapades so she more often than not just left it at home. Maybe she’d ask the older gentleman sitting at the table closest to her. She knew her way around the elderly and nine times out of ten could charm even the grouchiest of old men with a smile and correct word placement. Might as well put such skills to use.
She started planning how to broach the subject with him while skimming the paper, only half paying attention to the actual words. Maybe I can make up a lie about hitchhiking and not really knowing where I got dropped off? I mean, that’s technically true anyway, right?
It would seem her planning was unnecessary as the man addressed her first. “Nasty business, ain’t it?” She shot him a surprised and slightly confused look as he motioned to her paper. She turned it to look at the front page headline. The only words that really caught her eye were “MONSTERS” and “MT. EBBOTT,” the words tickling something in the back corner of her memory.
She ignored it in favor of responding to the man. “Honestly I had no clue. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling and it’s left me quite out of the loop, you see.”
He gave her a look as if he couldn’t quite believe her. “Don’t you kids have phones on you at all times these days?”
She forced a chuckle. “Mine has been out of commission for a while now. Haven’t had the chance to get it fixed yet.” She made a pointed glance at the front page, bringing his attention back to the headline as well. “So what has happened, then?”
“Basically what it says. These things came crawling out of the mountain! Lead by a kid, no less! I’m worried they forced the little bugger into helping them somehow.”
She let out a non committal hum as she looked more closely at the article, the feeling of familiarity coming to the forefront once again. She frowned as she read the article, already hating the way humanity seemed to be reacting to such a discovery. The man, however, seemed to take her reaction as agreeing with him. He started on a tirade that she honestly tuned out, her focus now on a picture that accompanied the headline. In it were several faces that she recognized from her time on blogging platforms, but none rang the bell for her more than the pair of skulls grinning out from the paper.
Oh . She thought to herself, the puzzle pieces finally coming together in her head. That’s where I am.
She had never played Undertale, never really had the chance, so this particular endeavor she had been dropped into had her going in almost completely blind. She hated unknowns. Maybe she could get down into the basic “coding” of this universe to find the answers to some of her questions. Or , the little voice in her head offered, you could not cheat and just let it happen .
Ah yes , she responded sarcastically, because that has always been the best idea .
The man was still talking as she stood, spewing off something about goats being the spawn of Satan before stopping when she apologized for cutting the conversation short and giving a hastily made excuse. She tucked her paper away and exiting the building, turning as if to head to the park. Once she was a few storefronts down she moved into an alleyway, giving a brief once-over to make sure no one was looking before allowing herself to fall backwards trust fall style before being swallowed by suffocating blackness. She took a deep breath before lifting her hand, the space around her becoming illuminated in the soft shades of blue that accompanied electronic screens. She started tapping and swiping at the screens, looking for the particular bits of this universe’s history that would aid in her blending in.
“Now then,” she muttered, the glare from the screens reflecting off her glasses. “Let’s see what we have here.”