-Balance Castle-
Fresh 404 sighs and looks around as they step through the portal. "Right we have to find everyone, have dinner, ask Doc what the bitties need tonight. Fill out the reports for today. Fox, how did they do it all."
"They didn't, your dad had a team and Error stopped functioning outside of his job. You can't afford to do it all." Edge frowns slightly looking around. "Where is that Milly chick I bet she knows where everyone is."
Fresh 404 takes out his phone and texts Milly. "Good point plus we have no idea where the dining room is."
A few minutes later a lanky bunny monster in a suit rushes into the entry hall. "Lord 404 please forgive my tardiness. How may I serve you?"
"It is alright this is a big place. Can you tell us if the others have eaten dinner yet, and where everyone is?" Fresh 404 smiles trying to reassure the young footman.
"All the guests have been shown to rooms, the bitties are being settled in your rooms and their Doctor in the suit next door. It is seven thirty so dinner will be served in fifteen minutes." The footman relaxed at Fresh 404's smile.
"Thank you, Edge will be staying with us for a few days please lead him to a suit off the courtyard so that it is easy for everyone to find each other if they want company." Fresh 404 glances at Edge and hums in thought. "Also have someone find him pjs. We will take him to get his luggage tomorrow."
"Yes my lord is there anything else?" The young footman beamed clearly happy to help.
"We are going to our room to check on the new members of the family, please arrange for everyone to have a guide to the dining room when it is dinner time." With that Fresh 404 teleported away with a rainbow poof of mist.
Edge sighs, and rubs the back of his neck. "Fox damn it is there no way to make him take a break?"
"Don't worry about that, he won't escape Milly until dinner." The footman grinned leading Edge through the maze of a castle.
-Fresh 404's Room-
Fresh 404 poofed to just outside his rooms and opened the door carefully not wanting to accidentally bump any bitties. "Hello?"
Doc hurries out of one of the bedrooms. "Fresh 404 your back. Most of the bitties are napping in your room while we're unpacking."
Fresh 404 smiles and followed him into the room. "We may have to make do for a few days. We will be talking to the carpenter tomorrow about furniture." Taking a notepad out of their inventory they start making a list. "Milly, good job on getting them settled quickly and taking the initiative on unpacking."
"Thank you m'lord. I took the liberty of sending the dishes and silverware to the kitchen so they could be washed before dinner." Milly beams at the praise.
Doc smiles and watches while he sorts through packages dividing them into piles. Bathroom supplies in one corner, bags of clothes to Milly to be unpackaged and washed. Bedding piled on the bed, toys by the door, weapons on the desk.
"Let's see we need the carpenter to make wardrobes, beds, chairs, couches, tables, chest of drawers. We need the plumber to hook up the bitties bathroom sets. Let's say under the counter in our bathroom while the one off this room is remodeled for them. Remodeling means getting the architect, builder, plumber, electrician.... Milly dad did this all the time. Is there one person I can contact and tell what I want and let them handle the rest?" Fresh 404 glances at Milly hopefully.
"Local contractor, just make a list of the changes you want. The contractor takes it from there. Furnishings are separate." Milly looks up from collapsing and bundling boxes for recycling.
There is a knock on the outer door and Doc picks up a pair of large cloth lined baskets. "It must be dinner time. Let's go wake them up."
Fresh 404 walks into his room to find Moonlight and Glitch awake and holding Starlight up through a coughing fit. After watching and glancing at the other bitties that are awake or passed out he kneels by the bed not quite putting him at eyelight level but a lot closer. "Hey Moonlight it is dinner time. Do you want us to have it brought in here or to come eat with our guests. We can do either or both just so long as everyone gets some monster food and is comfortable or as comfortable as we can arrange."
Looking over his people, Moonlight frowned. "I want to say both but we need the more mobile, to help us get everyone fed."
Glitch put a hand on Moonlight's back in comfort. "Maybe tomorrow everyone has had a long day."
"Completely understandable health first. Franky if you really want to eat with us, we could ask to have dinner served here. We have a dining table and only four guests tonight. Whatever works best for you guys you are the only ones with broken bones." Fresh 404 poofed the safety strings on Dusty gently lifting him down to the bed with everyone else.
Starlight leans against Moonlight and Glitch. "I think it would be best for you to have your guests in. The sooner everyone meets each other the safer."
Moonlight frowns at Starlight. "Are you sure I don't want to expose you to strangers in your condition if we don't need to."
Doc watches the exchange. "Hey kid, who are your guests?" He set down the baskets and checked on a group of bitties resting on one of the pillows.
"You, Edge, and the DustTale brothers Powder and Rose." Fresh 404 frowns at BlueBell who is close to the edge of the bed. "Careful BlueBell that would be a long fall to a stone floor."
Glitch looks from Moonlight and Starlight to Dusty who had gone straight to the pillow to cuddle Larkspur. "If Dusty thinks they are okay then I vote with Starlight. If not then Moonlight."
Dusty looks over at them holding Larkspur. "I wouldn't want to fight either of them even if we were the same size but I don't think they are going to be a problem, they responded to Fresh 404 or at least his Fresh side like brothers."
Moonlight sighs and nods. "Okay let's go with Starlight's plan." He looks up at Fresh 404.
Fresh 404 nods and smiles standing to go let the footman at the door know the chance of plans, and thank them for being patient with them while everyone was getting settled in. After that he walks back into the room where Milly is working. "Milly is there anyone who can do your job as well as you do?"
Molly's head jerked up and she looked at him with big alarmed eyes. "Y-yes my lord. Have I offended you in some way?"
"No, quite the opposite, we find ourselves in the position of having too many jobs and not enough experience. You are highly competent, intelligent, and responsible. We want to promote you to our assistant." Fresh 404 offers her a hand up.
Milly widens her eyes before taking his hand. "If you mean it then I would be honored to be your assistant. Edwin would make an excellent headmaid."
Fresh 404 smiles at her. "Thank you. We are sure this position will be challenging but we believe you are up to it. Your main job is to keep us as organized as possible and manage things in this AU or at least make sure we don't mess things up. Most of our attention needs to be on the balance for now so we will have little to no set schedule. We know this will make more work for the staff as situations change. Part of your job will be to read the situation and adjust things as needed so that we do not overburden them. If you need it you can take a suit here in the castle. It is not like we don't have more room than we need. If you do be aware not all of our guests in future will be stable. We can't even promise that for future residents."
"So normal for this castle." Milly stood with his help. "So what have you done now and why haven't you left for dinner?"
"Changed dinner to my suite so everyone can attend without bitties with broken bones having to be moved more than necessary?" Fresh 404 fidgets.
"That is perfectly responsible. The food is moved to the dining room in heated or chilled carets like used by room service in big hotels. It is just as easy to bring it here as there. Would you like me to arrange breakfast on the courtyard patio for tomorrow? So that plans are not being changed so often?" Milly smiles reassuringly at him.
"Please do." Fresh 404 smiles looking relieved that chaos at least of the domestic kind was not eminent. Then his sockets widened. "We forgot to tell them about Vita, and uncle Dream because they are not guests, they live here."
Milly giggles softly as he rushes off to his room to talk with Moonlight, Glitch, and Starlight.
Fresh 404 hurried in and knelt by the bed. "We forgot to mention uncle Dream, and Lady Vita, she is living here until I am an adult. She is the Goddess of Life from ReaperTale, also Golden FlowerFell!Sans and Sunshine FlowerFell!Frisk are going to live here too but they are not here yet."
Glitch stood up, "it is okay kid you are still learning to do all this. We didn't remember everything our first day either and we only had six bitties to take care of back then. Right, Moonlight?"
Moonlight nodded holding Starlight so he didn't fall over coughing. "You have been placed in a leadership role without training or time to prepare just getting your own fed, sheltered, and medical care is impressive. You have accomplished more than that already."
Doc frowns at the bitties on the pillow. "Kid do you want to see if your idea about using magic water in a mist chamber will work to raise magic levels in severely depleted bitties?"
Fresh 404 groans and drops his skull to the bed. "You said untried treatments are illegal and they are not conscious to agree, Doc."
"True but we are not in a BittyTale, and the method is safe and proven in other applications. I also think they are going to dust if we don't raise their magic levels and the safe ways of doing so are... either extremely slow or not an option with them unconscious. I had hoped they would wake by now." Doc looks away not wanting to meet their eyelight.
Fresh 404 lifts his head with a sigh. "Moonlight, Glitch, Starlight, you are the heads of their clan. You know them best, do we have your permission for this?"
Before any of them can answer Dusty stands up holding Larkspur. "Do it Larkspur is my partner as his mate if he can't make the choice it is mine. If it can't hurt him and might save him then I don't care if it hasn't been tried in this way before."
Moonlight looked at Dusty then at Starlight and Glitch then nodded. "He is right the mates and siblings have more say in that than we do unless they don't have a close family member."
"Okay Doc please set it up while families decide what they want." Fresh 404 lays his head down hearing guests being shown into the living room.
Glitch looks towards the living room. "Might as well take some of us out there."
Moonlight carried Starlight over, helping Glitch, BlueBell and a horror type bitty with an axe made of broken glass and wire joining them. Moonlight points at the horror bitty. "That is BlueBell's partner Thorn."
Setting up Fresh 404 nods to Thorn. "Nice to meet you. Did you do the wire work on your axe yourself? It looks intricate." Standing they cup their hands so that they can climb on. "We would offer you a pocket but Rose tends to tackle hug, and if he can't see you..."
Thorn blushes at the comment about his axe and nods. "BlueBell helped a lot."
Starlight frowns at the part about Rose. "How old is Rose exactly?" Before he could get an answer Moonlight lifted him into Fresh 404's palm.
"Rose is the DustTale Papyrus from DustTale #3, he is 18, and 938 rests 824 of which he can remember. He is very mature but socially starved because of conditions in his AU." Fresh 404 looks closer at the axe. "You and BlueBell could be artists if that is what you can do with makeshift tools." That had both BlueBell and Thorn blushing.
Glitch climbs into Fresh 404's hands with Moonlight's help and settles with Starlight while Moonlight, BlueBell and Thorn join them. "This Rose is one of the ones you want to keep?"
"If we could we would free Rose and Powder from DustTale completely. But we have to stabilize the AU chain or it could take down a whole section of the multiverse. We mean to spare them as much as we can." Fresh 404's frown flashes into a bright blue smile as he turns to the door. Walking out of his room.
As predicted Rose tried to tackle hug Fresh 404 completely forgetting the no sudden touch rule. Only to skid and stumble seeing the bitties in his hands.
A soft bouncy web of rainbow string instantly formed in front of Fresh 404 catching Rose before he could fall or crash into them. "Chillax bru Rosy meet, Moonlight, Starlight, Glitch, BlueBell and Thorn. Some of our bitty brus."
Powder helps Rose up and gives the bitties a tiny smile. "So how many bitty brus do you have Fresh?"
"Forty two radical little duds, Doc is setting up a treatment for some of them." Fresh 404 poofs the web and walks over to the table to gently set them down.
Dream walks in looking pale and tired followed by Edge and last of all Vita who gave Dream worried looks.
BlueBell waved excitedly at Edge, almost falling out of Fresh 404's hands in his enthusiasm only to be yanked back by a terrified looking Thorn. "HI EDGE! I HEARD YOU ARE STAYING!"
Edge hurries over, "Fox, BlueBell be careful we can't read together if Doc has to put you back together."
Chuckling Fresh 404 gently set them down on the table. "Rose, would you and Lady Vita be willing to help me bring in the others?" Before going back to his room for more bitties he gently pushed Dream down in a chair.
Vita followed Fresh 404 into his room. Truth be told she was very worried about the kind child the council had made destroyer, but at the same time she was relieved that he was actively building an emotional support system.
Rose bounced on his toes with excitement and rushed to follow Fresh 404 only to stop abruptly seeing the bitties on the bed unconscious, bandaged or both. "Freshy what happened?"
Doc was talking with a group who had apparently jumped at the chance for their loved ones to get treatment while the rest watched. He looked up when they came in. "Hey kid I need to get supplies from the mobile clinic to set up a mist chamber."
Fresh 404 opens his inventory and takes out what he needs. "We got what we needed for one after you explained it. We wanted to have it on hand in case anyone got a cold or something. Rosy bru these little duds have been on their own for years, they ran into a string of bad luck and lost their healers other than Starlight and he is really sick."
Vita observed Doc setting up the mist chamber and walked over for a closer look. "What are you doing?"
"Setting up a mist chamber, it's a way to deliver inhalable medicine to bitties. One of the benefits is they don't have to be able to swallow or be awake. Injections are not an option because they are almost impossible without breaking bones." He adjusts the nebulizer adding the magic infused water.
"Clever I encounter similar problems treating hummingbirds, they are just too small for most treatments to be safe." Vita watches the simple set up fascinated.
Rose walks over slowly not wanting to spook them. "I can really help you carry them?"
"Ya Rosy bru just lay Ya hands down on the bed so da ones dats ready for a lift can climb on." Fresh 404 showed him and smiled at the bitties that climbed into his hands before watching Rose do the same.
Copying him Rose, looked delighted when Boss set Cherry in his palm before lifting up Edgy and climbed up himself. Surprising everyone that the cranky over protective bitty would let a stranger carry his brothers.
Fresh 404 smiles and leads the way to the living room pleased with how happy Rose is to help.
Edge was talking to BlueBell while he showed him how to program numbers into Fresh 404's phone.
Surprisingly Powder was sitting on the arm of Dream's chair keeping an eyelight on him.
Dream watched Fresh 404 go back and forth bringing in the bitties before looking at the DustTale Sans next to him. "What is with the mother hen, vibes? I don't know you and in my current condition am no use to you."
"Fresh saved us or at least gave my brother and I the information we needed to save ourselves. No way am I letting his only code relative get hurt on my watch." Powder shrugs watching his brother beam already far happier away from their AU.
Vita and Doc join them with the last of the bitties Dusty on Doc's shoulder keeping an eyelight on the mist chamber in his arms.
While they were getting everyone to the living room four maids and Patrick the footman pushed food carts into the room. Fresh 404 thanked them as they set the table. The maids giggled and Patrick grins. "Happy to serve lord Fresh 404."
Lady Vita smiles and shoos the maids and Patrick out with a smile. "Thank you all for your hard work but we are going to eat family style when we are in private rooms."
Patrick smiles, "of course lady Vita we understand. Thank you for informing us of this policy."
After they leave Fresh 404 opens the carts and starts setting the table. With everyone's help it was done in no time and they could eat. Fresh 404 made sure Edge filled his plate and Powder had veggies on his. While helping the bitties fill their plates and bowls from the large serving dishes.
Doc chuckles watching him and helping with the bitties. "Somehow lady Vita I think you have competition for being the mother figure of the household."
Vita snorts a laugh, "I am not so foolish as to try to take the place of one so dearly loved and missed. I am here to help not take over. It is also nice to be far from my ex."
Edge glances around, "I thought Golden was staying with you kid." He tries to give BlueBell his broccoli only to have Fresh 404 add two more to his plate.
"He is, we are just waiting till after reset so he can bring his Frisk with him." Fresh 404 fills his own plate then frowns at Dream's and adds a bowl of soup. "Uncle Dream we know you don't feel well but you have to eat enough to keep your strength up."
In between making sure everyone eats a nutritious meal and bites of his own dinner Fresh 404 starts listing off things to do. "We need someone to manage what council members are available to come to work with us. We went through multiple council members today. Also some council members are not suitable to take some places. We also need to spend a few hours in the anti-void. That place is not suitable for anyone for long but especially not anyone with a glitch." He looks right at Edge waiting to see what he thinks.
Edge looks up from trying to figure out how to avoid his vegetables. "FellSwap Sans, he has all the swap traits. He was captain of the royal guard so he has the organization skills. He stays quiet at meetings and thinks for himself. If he doesn't want to be involved in something like the ambush the human suddenly resets. He keeps getting demoted from captain just after reset. Something about paperwork being completed that was supposed to be lost. Cannot be sure without checking it out but it sounds like he is sticking to his morals a little too much to suit his queen's will."
Fresh 404 smiles slightly. "We have no idea why Fell is always picking on you. You're observant, clever, and organized."
Dream nods watching, "you may act out when Fell is paying attention but you stay quiet and watch what is going on a lot."
Vita laughs softly when Edge gets all flustered and eats his vegetables just to avoid having to say anything.
Dusty picked at his food setting where he could watch the mist chamber. While everyone chatted and teased, even Moonlight relaxed after a bit.
"Dusty please eat a bit more. Larkspur is going to need you to be strong to help him when he wakes up." Fresh 404 frowned gently, encouraging him to eat.
Doc nods, "He is right if this doesn't work there are other ways they just take time. The best way you can help him right now is to take care of yourself so you can help take care of him."
Glitch gets up and shuffles over to set by Dusty. "You're not in this alone Dusty, we stand with you just like you stood with us last winter."
Moonlight nods cradling Starlight close through a coughing fit. "Glitch is right, we formed a clan years ago and we stand as one always."
Powder watched glancing from the bitties to the mist chamber then back to Dusty. "Fresh dude mind letting the rest of us in on what is going on?"
Doc points at the mist chamber, "We are trying a treatment for magic depletion the kid came up with, kind of untested and illegal if we were in BittyTale but completely safe so we are doing it anyway. Dusty's life partner is in there, with eleven others."
"Huh magic depletion used to be a problem in our AU before the core was built. It was super easy to treat, there was this area behind one of the waterfalls in Waterfall that had a hot spring. A day or so soaking there and it was all better, the only problem was fire based monsters couldn't use it." Powder took a bite of his food and his eyelights went starry for a moment.
They all look at Powder then Fresh 404 puts his head down on the table with a sigh, "of course every AU has something special or unique."
"Edge can you call Sci about this we need that spring studied before we can delete DustTale #3." Dream watched his nephew seeing his tired frustration.
Rose smiled remembering, "oh the misty place Powder used to take me when we were little it was nice sometimes we camped there because it was warm."
"Ya bro fun times, camping, fishing, splashing in the hot spring." Powder gave an empty Sans smile and concentrated on his dinner not making eyelight contact with anyone.
Fresh 404 lifts his head and gives Powder a look. "Bru we talked about this. Hiding Ya thoughts and feeling from your brosuph is completely unrad."
Dream blinded looking from Fresh 404 to Powder. "How can you tell?" He glances at Rose, Edge, and Doc finding them all watching Powder and Fresh 404.
Powder slumps letting the smile drop. "Fine, the spring works Rose's magic reserve is higher than is normal for a Papyrus. Most Papyrus suffer some magic deprivation as children do to the lack of parents supplying them with magic. Most Sanses are not adults when they take over raising their brother. It is part of why we ended up so short and Papyruses while physically stronger normally have less magic."
"So the camping trips and play time at the hot spring, was preventative care that you made fun for Rose?" Fresh 404 smiles, "you should be proud of what you accomplished. Rose is stronger, healthier, and better balanced than any other Papyrus that we have personally met. We are proud of ya bru."
Rose just pulled Powder out of his chair and hugged him. "Thank you brother, for taking good care of me and I don't care if we did it for health reasons. I had fun spending time with you."
Dream smiled watching them and wondered what would have happened if his brother had a friend like Fresh 404 when they were young, someone who could have pushed him into talking about what was wrong.
"Fresh 404 is right, you have done a wonderful job. Even with the hardships you two have faced." Vita smiles at Powder making him blush under all the attention and praise.
Doc smiles at Edge then glances away. "It strikes me that the kid is gathering those who are good at taking care of others."
"What ya talking about Doc? Sure you, Dream, Vita, Rose, and Powder, but I am pretty much useless." Edge frowns shaking his head.
Fresh 404 snorts, "can you tell us you are not the reason your brother's temper hasn't gotten him killed yet without lying? We don't think so."
"I agree with Doc everyone here but me has proven themselves, as caretakers." Dream looks down at his hands ashamed to admit that even a DustTale Sans was better than he was when it came to taking care of family.
"Uncle Dream don't you were bound by DreamTale's corrupted codes. You did an amazing job taking care of Inky all these years. Things would have been worse for everyone without you keeping him somewhat in check." Fresh 404 both scolds and reassures worried about Dream's health and emotional state. It was one thing to plan to bury him in paperwork and quite another to have him pass out after an emotional breakdown.
Vita looks down, her eyes sad. "Dream we all have our faults and failings. If I had only educated Reaper about the other balances. If any Torial, had spoken to her Sans, about Frisk, and Chara rather than sticking to the script. Or the balance instead of knock knock jokes."
Rose patted one of her hands. "None of us can change the past, even the resets only allow for a different path to be followed. We can only move forwards with greater knowledge and understanding."
Moonlight watches them all while helping Starlight eat. "So what do you think you are doing after dinner?"
"Reports, then I need the check on Hatchet and his brother, and scheduled a meeting for tomorrow after lunch we really need to organize with the council." Fresh 404 sighs rubbing the back of his neck. "We also want to spend time with you guys."
"I will send a text about the meeting to the council. Now that you know your limits we can start to plan, how best to help." Edge picks up his phone.
After he eats, Dusty moves to the table's edge to watch the mist chamber. "Hanging out sounds good, you haven't had a chance to get to know Larkspur yet."
"We promoted Milly to our assistant if you need anything or have a problem let her know she will probably know what to do or can contact us if we are out for work." Fresh 404 glances at the mist chamber. "Someone woke up."
Doc nods and opens the mist chamber and lifts out a swapfell sans bitty. "Hello there what is your name?"
He just growls and weakly tries to escape only to be plucked out of Doc's hand by one of Moonlight's tentacles. "Enough Sparkle you need to calm the funk down and eat before you pass out again."
Surprisingly or actually not really the now named Sparkle immediately calms down. "Moonlight? Where are we?"
Moonlight shrugs, "we got adopted. All of us this is a castle, now settle down. BlueBell you and Thorn make sure he eats." Moonlight sets Sparkle down next to the pair named and goes back to feeding Starlight.
After dinner Fresh 404 stored the leftovers in his kitchenette so the bitties who hadn't woken yet would have something to eat when they did. "Milly said she would arrange breakfast to be served on the patio in the courtyard tomorrow everyone but Dream and Lady Vita are in suits just off the courtyard with patio doors leading out there. I am sorry about the early wake up but dad had a bell tower added. At some point it goes off every day at six thirty in the morning."
Both Powder and Edge grone at the early wake up call, but otherwise there are no complaints.
Vita chuckles, "Nightmare used to complain about having to replace alarm clocks every day for his team. I guess he found a solution."
Dream laughs softly, "That actually sounds like something he would have done when we were kids if he could have." Dream's laugh breaks into a sobbing and he tries to get up to leave.
Powder grabs Dream as he tries to pass and pulls him into his lap hugging him. "Oh no you don't. You have a problem you run to help, not away from it. Nightmare rule one when on the team or a guest in his home you are family."
Fresh 404 nods, "we have the same rule. We would not bring someone home if we didn't intend to take responsibility for their care."
Rose hugs Powder and Dream. "Powder is right, running from help instead of to it can only hurt you more."
"Uncle Dream we can't make you, get counseling. That said, we strongly recommend that you do so." Fresh 404 watches them letting Powder and Rose comfort Dream.
Dream clutched at Powder sobbing. "I was a terrible brother, it should not have mattered what others said I should have stood up for Nightmare no matter what he chose."
"At least you would have if you had known what was going on. Fell is an ash hole all on his own." Edge frowns at being censored but doesn't complain.
Doc checks the mist chamber and lifts out two more bitties that are waking up. "Well I must say this works better than expected."
Vita smiles as they are greeted with friends and family eager to hug and feed them. "I must say I wish more monsters would act like you guys do."
Glitch glances up at her, "no you don't the ones that couldn't act as a community and support each other didn't make it."
Fresh 404 sighs and sets a plate of mini-chocolate chips on the table for the bitties dessert. "We are sorry we have no way to help more, perhaps there is a way to organize bitties with the rescue groups to contact colonies and find out who needs help."
Doc blinked, "that is actually a very good idea I will call Paps in the morning and suggest it. He manages our contacts with the rescue groups."
Powder gently pats Dream's back. "Rose, could you pass us a cup of the golden flower tea. It feels like Dream here is a little low on magic."
Rose lets them go and fixes a cup of tea. "It really is too bad we are from one of the dark AU you always did have a knack for knowing just what was wrong with someone before they ever noticed Powder you would have made a great healer or doctor if things had been different."
"We know high LV interferes with healing magic, but there is no reason Powder can't be a doctor. You two are only needed in your AU ever seventh reset. Uncle Cobalt finished his education in AUs that ran faster than his so he could pack months of school into the short amounts of time he could escape unnoticed." Fresh 404 smiles slightly. "Not all doctors can use healing magic in fact none of the human ones can."
Vita actually looked intrigued, "that would set the council in a tizi, they have always been so quick to dismiss what someone might be based on their AU."
Powder takes the tea from Rose. "Thanks bro you're the best." Gently he pressed the cup into Dream's hands. "Now Dream, drink up."
Under Powder's watchful eyelights Dream drank the tea without protest. "Was Dust like you Powder?"
It was Rose who answered. "Dust and Ash were way more broken, they were closer to the Classic pattern so what Dust did to try an stop the genocide runs was extremely traumatic for both of them. Thanks to Fresh we knew what was in our codes and talked about it. Powder didn't have to face it all alone and held out until at least the boss monsters remembered. They chose to go with it not wanting everyone else to have to remember to. Powder also has never killed me because we knew what it would cost him."
"We won't be able to change your AU link until the human is caught. So why don't you guys visit HavenTale with uncle Dream tomorrow it is about as bland as plain oatmeal seasoned with a bowl full of sugar, but it should be restful. I believe making it for uncle Dream as a place to power up is one of the few real kindnesses Inky has ever done." Fresh 404 smiles when Powder nods knowing Dream will be taken care of for the day.
Edge cuts up some fruit for BlueBell, Thorn and the fell bitties who had gravitated towards him. "I will take care of setting up a rotation so the HorrorTale brothers aren't alone at the hospital."
"Put me in that rotation for a half day in the morning. I am spending time in the Chara support system in the afternoon." Vita cuts up a dinner roll so that it was easier for the bitties to handle.
Fresh 404 gently lifts a groggy Larkspur out of the mist chamber and sets him down next to Dusty. "Dusty bru look who is waking up."
Dusty rushed over to Larkspur and hugged him close before carrying him over to the food.
Everyone lingered after dinner drinking tea and showering the bitties with care and attention. Rather than making anyone leave Fresh 404 just filled out his report at the table. Then stuck them in a desk drawer to make copies for the council later.
"We are working on uncle Geno's AU tomorrow and also bribed Reaper with being allowed to play with dad's fancy coffee maker. Please avoid touching him or you will dust." Fresh 404 yawns not glancing at the time, nine o'clock. "We hate to be rude but it is bedtime in thirty minutes."
Vita chuckles and shoos him off to his room. "Go get ready for bed Doc and I will clean up and get the bitties moved back to your room if the others want to stay up they can move to one of their suits."
Everyone nodded at that and went their separate ways. Edge getting some of the bitties to come with him for company. The other bitties start to divide into groups as well gravitating towards one individual or another for the evening. The only ones that don't seem to plan on going anywhere are a core group made up of Moonlight, Starlight, Glitch, Dusty, Larkspur, two other dust type bitties, a horror type, and a reaper type. The reaper type just sort of slouches away from the others drinking tea and looking depressed. Fresh 404 scoops up the mini-reaper on the way to his room. "Come on little dude if touching the full sized version won't hurt us you should be just fine with us."
Edge could have sworn he the tiny reaper was crying and clinging to the kids hand as he was carried into the kids room. "Hey Doc. do reaper bitties have the same death touch as Reaper does?"
Doc watched the scene with a sad smile. "Kind of bitties have the same magic we do just scaled down to match their size but just like we can summon much larger attacks if we put the effort and resources into it so can they. But if you have ever done that you know how magically draining it is. As for involuntary magic like death touch. It gets complicated, the short answer is yes. The long answer is only directly if you are no bigger than a cat, indirectly they can cease necrosis in open wounds even as small as a scratch, or exacerbate underlying health issues. It is highly illegal to adopt them out. They normally end up in long term care facilities like sanctuaries where the staff are trained not to touch them directly or on the black market. The ones not lucky enough to be in a sanctuary normally have short hard lives."
On that rather dismal note Powder stood up carrying a softly protesting Dream, who has a baby blue, huckleberry, and wildberry type bitties. "Come on Dream, let's get you to your room. We have an outing tomorrow."
Rose helps clean up a little before leaving as well with a swapfell and a baby blue on his shoulders.
Vita watches them disperse. "I was under the impression Fresh 404 adopted you all don't bitties usually stay with their adopter?"
Moonlight looks up at her. "Normally yes but there are a lot of us and we are all low on magic, if all of us tried to snuggle with him someone might get hurt so only the those most depleted or those who need the emotional boost the most are staying tonight. We," he points at himself, Starlight, and Glitch. "Are staying because as leaders we need to look after our most vulnerable."
Glitch brings Dusty and Larkspur an armload of chocolate chips. "Try these."
Dusty nods and scrapes shavings off with a bitty sized table knife feeding them to Larkspur. "Thanks Glitch."
Fresh 404 comes back in pajamas with the little reaper on his shoulder. "Moonlight do you mind if Sasin keeps me company tomorrow?"
Moonlight looks up at them and grins, "sure how did you get him to accept a name other than death or despair?"
"Sasin is Korean for reaper. We suggested that it would make conversation easier as Reaper from, ReaperTale is kind of dating uncle Geno. When Geno isn't mad at him for existing as far as we can tell. We actually had not realized you had a reaper type with you or we would have let him ride in our pocket instead of risking a crowded basket." Fresh 404 gives them all worried looks. "We took a look at his codes and he should be safe for Grim and Reaper to handle. Perhaps they can rescue a few from the blackmark we know they get lonely."
Doc stared at them wide socketed, "kid if you didn't have more work than anyone should have to deal with I would hire you."
Starlight leans heavily on Moonlight watching. "Sasin I like it a lot better than despair."
Sasin just watches shoulders slumping a little. "Sorry I didn't have a real name before.."
"Shh Sasin don't apologize for things that are not your doing. I am sure they are just happy you have a name." Fresh 404 lifts a hand and rubs his skull gently with one finger.
Larkspur gives a tired wave. "Don't mind us Sasin we just didn't like calling you despair because it sounds mean. It is bad enough that we can't touch you to help without us sounding mean."
Dusty hugs Larkspur and nods, "Larkspur is right we are a clan we stand as one it hurt that we had to stay away and use a mean word as a name. Please don't be upset that we are happy you have a good name now."
"So who needs a lift to our room? It is getting late." Fresh 404 smiles then yawns.
"I think anyone who has broken bones or is just waking up should stay in the mist chamber tonight with one or two of the more able bodied and some snacks. Just for tonight passive magic absorption at night might not be enough of a boost at least not at first." Doc adds berries to the plate of chocolate chips.
Vita waves and heads out for the night with a horror bitty riding in her pocket and a sansy napping in his arms. "Goodnight dear rest well."
Fresh 404 helps everyone with broken bones into the Mist chamber and carries it to his room then comes back for everyone else while Doc puts the plate of snacks in it and a second one on the nightstand. After bringing the last of the bitties in. Fresh 404 made a bridge from the bed to the nightstand with his rainbow threads and said goodnight to Doc walking him to the door.