It's been about a week since I started hanging out with Pristina and Hapi. We've gone to the piano to play some music, talked about what's been happening, and tried to get each other to try different fashions.
They told me about what was happening in the Underground as a whole. Asgore still has yet to announce what happened to me, but more monsters have begun to think that I must have been dead. Whether or not my soul was recovered (in theory) was still up in the air. But I didn't care. I was more focused on having fun with my new friends.
Today, I had convinced Wingding to bring Pristina and Hapi to the Clearing after school. He didn't like it at first, but I thought it would be nice to have a better hang out than in the piano room, or at Hapi's place, both were either public or close to public areas, so we agreed that it would be safer to hang out in an out of the way place from everything.
I was sitting on a rock, waiting for my friends to arrive. I was playing with a fireball I had conjured, tossing it back and forth between my hands. I had gotten much better with my magic since I started training with the Serif family.
I heard footsteps in the distance, and I knew that Wingding and my friends should be arriving. I saw them come around the brush, with a surprise guest.
"Hapi! Pristina! You're here!" I called out. "Who's your friend?"
"Oh, him?" Hapi gestured to another ghost, this one white, carrying one of those portable DJ music mixers. "This is my cousin that I told you about, Napstablook." She flew over, and leaned toward me. "You can call him Blooky."
Wingding walked over with Pristina, and whispered in my ear, "don't worry, I know him. He's shy, but he's not a bad guy. You can trust him."
I nodded in response.
"What did you tell her?" Pristina asked.
"Nothing important," Wingding quickly replied.
Hapi looked around. "Hm, how drab."
"Hey, it's okay," I told her.
"Gaster says this is where you practice magic?" Pristina asked.
"Yeah," I said, tossing my fireball in the air, and making it explode in the air.
"Oh, Chara, I think you could have style," Hapi replied.
"It's like fireworks!" Pristina exclaimed.
Wingding just smiled.
"Well, I practice weekly, so... yeah," I replied. "I have to thank Wingding for helping me, despite not having fire magic himself."
Hapi spun around. "So Chara, you know me and Pristina like to dance, right? Have you ever danced?"
"Um, no. Wingding have you?" I asked him.
"Of course not. I don't-" Wingding began.
"Oh, come on, Gaster," Pristina interrupted. She held out her hand. "Dance with me!"
"So let me guess, we're not getting out of this?" I asked.
"NOPE!" Hapi and Pristina said together.
Hapi snapped her fingers (I think. Sometimes arms appear on her, but they're like nubs. So it just... happened). "Okay, Napstablook, hit it."
Napstablook set up his DJ system, and began playing some beats.
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A few hours later, I was having probably some of the best times of my life. Hapi and Pristina clearly loved dancing, and they showed me a lot of moves to try out.
Wingding danced with Pristina for almost an hour, before stepping to the side, and just watching. I guess this kind of activity just wasn't for him. Though Pristina was disappointed a bit.
I, however, loved it, learning new moves. I wasn't really good, but Hapi said I had lots of potential, and that I should keep practicing.
After a while, we decided to take a break. Wingding went to the house, and came back with some sodas and bottles of water for us to drink to cool down a bit.
"That was great!" I exclaimed. "I've never been so energized."
"I will admit," Wingding said, "it is a good form of exercise. But I still prefer to practice my magic for that. Though... it may be good for Chara."
"Well, sure, that's a good idea... but doesn't she also practice magic? Can't she just do this for fun?" Pristina asked.
She had a point. Because monsters are made of magic, just practicing their magic counts as "exercise". But since I was actually human, my magic came purely from my soul. True, it could strengthen my body, but it couldn't replace true exercise for me. And I have been hiding for a couple years now, and I needed to be more active.
But since they didn't know this, I said, "I could do both. Nothing's wrong with that."
"Well, okay," Pristina replied.
I turned to Napstablook. "So you're Hapi's cousin, right? You're really good with that music thing. Keep it up, I'd love to hear more in the future."
"oh... uh, thanks," Napstablook replied.
"Well, you're not bad with music yourself, Chara," Pristina said. "We know you're great with the piano."
"Yeah, but full-on music mixing, writing new music... I've never done anything like that," I replied.
"Don't sell yourself short, Chara. In my opinion, nothing can replace a beautiful instrument like the piano," Wingding said. "Don't get me wrong, Napstablook, you're very skilled with the synths, and that is definitely worth something. I'm sure people will enjoy his music, but there is a sense of authenticity to playing a real instrument."
"I suppose everyone has their own tastes," Hapi said.
"Gaster, do you play an instrument?" Pristina asked.
"I play the piano like Chara, though not as often. I do it as one of many ways to keep my hands busy, unlike Chara, who just likes to play for fun," Wingding replied.
"Yeah, but you're really good," I told him.
"But not as good as you. I'm not as interested in it as you are. It's a small distraction for me, not a hobby."
"Well, maybe you should find an instrument you do like," Pristina said.
"Yeah, anything else you like the sound of?" Hapi replied.
"I don't know. Violin, maybe?" Wingding answered.
"How about... ooh, acoustic guitar!" I offered.
"Guitar... me," Wingding scoffed.
"Oh, come on. Try something new, Wingding," I told him.
"...Well, I guess I'll give it a try. We'll see where that goes."
"Oh, I can't wait!" Pristina replied.
"Well, guys, you want to get back to it," Hapi said. "No one can become great if they just sit around."
We all got back up, and went back to our dance practice, except for Wingding, of course. I noticed, like Wingding had told me, Pristina was paying a lot of attention to Gaster, soaking in his occasional compliments and such.
I wondered... maybe... just maybe, she might have liked him.
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Author's Note: Not the most interesting chapter, I'll admit. I just wanted to establish that Chara does learn how to dance. Why? Well, you will see, but you probably have a good idea anyway. I also decided to give Gaster a new instrument to play, so he isn't sharing something with Chara, and is more unique.
I have to admit, I think taking Gaster's full name, W.D. Gaster, or Wingding Gaster, and making it a means to make it two names, was a mistake. Originally, Gaster was going to be his last name, but I choose to make it Serif, better playing up the skeleton-font naming scheme. But writing these gets really confusing for me as I write them out, and have to remember who calls Gaster what. If you know that Gaster has two names in his full name, then I don't find it hard to know he is the same characters under two names, but writing it out is a pain. I might reassess how I handle this is the future.
Oh, and I am building up something with Pristina. Now, don't let yourselves get too excited for this though. I can't say why, but it's not as big as you probably are thinking.