Work Text:
Nightmare had always had a... problem with technology. By all means, it made sense - he was just... ridiculously old. To to the point that he predated the discovery of electricity by several hundred years. Because of his age and lack of experience with modern technology, it was rare that any inhabitant of the castle received a text message from the King. Thus, him being the culprit behind the notification Dust had just received was a surprise, to say the least.
How do you calculate time dilation?
The message, of course, had left Dust rather confused. Why the hell was Nightmare - the smartest person he knew - asking him that? He sent a short message back, simply reading “What?”, and got a response a minute later.
What?
Time dilation how to calculate.
Dust wasn’t sure why Nightmare was suddenly so interested in time dilation of all things, but he did have a history of getting sucked into rabbit holes of information, so it really wasn’t that shocking. No, what Dust failed to understand was why he was so insistent on asking him. Was he texting the others as well? Was this a test? He’d been a chemist, not a physicist, damnit!
As he went to type out his confusion, he received yet another message from his boss:
Time dilatiom formula.
Dust snorted at the mildly amusing typo, before sending his own question in return, the King sending another text correcting his spelling mistake immediately after.
Why are you asking me this?
Time dilation formula.
Briefly, Dust wondered if Nightmare was going senile, followed by another thought of “Took him long enough.” He waited, wanting to see how his boss would respond, but after a minute with no sign of a reply, he left the tab to search for the answer Nightmare was so desperately looking for. Mid way though typing, however, he received yet another notification, and instinctively tapped on it, bringing him back to his messages.
Why doesn’t the phone research function understand?
Oh.
Oh this was great. Nightmare thought he was on Google. Dust would be tempted to call him a boomer, but he would be off by several generations. He snickered a bit as the King sent another confused text:
How to make internet search option understand.
Fully grinning, Dust took a screenshot of the one-sided conversation and sent it to the group chat - the one without Nightmare - with the caption “He thinks he’s on google lol”. Very quickly, he received answers from people who actually knew how texting worked.
[Attachment: 1 image]
He thinks he’s on google lol
(killer)
HELP LMAO
(error)
Omg
Wait how hasn’t he noticed ur name at the top????
Error raised a good point. How hadn’t Nightmare noticed he was texting Dust? Even if he wasn’t used to the interface, couldn’t he see their (brief) past conversations? As if on cue, he got another notification from Nightmare, so he simply texted “idk” back to Error, before going to see what the confused God had sent, right as a second text came through.
Why won’t phone search answer
Search not answering help please/
It appeared that Nightmare had reached the point of failing to do as much as type coherently, and it was utterly hilarious - seeing his usually very literarily-inclined boss write something like this was ridiculously funny, and he knew the others would appreciate it, too, so he took another screenshot and sent it to the group chat as well. The others were quick to respond.
[Attachment: 1 image]
(error)
PLEASEEEE OMG
(killer)
His brain is MELTING bro
(cross)
He’s trying
There was an attempt
‘Not a very good one,’ Dust thought jokingly, still huffing out short laughs at Nightmare’s technological struggles. A part of him wanted to see how long this would drag on for, however that would be a bit mean. He was actually surprised the King was still even trying to search for the formula he (apparently) needed, and hadn’t gone to look for the answer in a book yet.
Actually, maybe he had, considering Dust hadn’t received another notification from him in a few minutes. Nightmare was a painfully slow typer, though...
After continuing to stare down at the messages from his boss, Dust came to the conclusion that he should try clear up Nightmare’s misconceptions about how to search digitally.
Nightmare what are you doing?
Dust waited for a short while before his attention waned, and he switched back to Google. What can he say? The other’s insistence on finding the formula for time dilation had left him curious himself. Besides, gods know Nightmare would find a way to mess up something as simple as searching something up - he already had.
The Google page had loaded, and Dust had been able to look at the presented formula for about a second before he (finally) received another notification from Nightmare. He tapped on it, staring down at the new message as he processed what had been frantically typed out to him.
How doea mt tlkephone knowmy name ?’
Dust let out a long exhale of a laugh which left his hypothetical lungs so empty they ached. Holy fuck this was good. He quickly sent another screenshot to the group chat, to which there was an uproar of “lol’s” and “help’s”. It was all good fun, until Cross pointed something out.
[Attachment: 1 image]
(killer)
LOL
(cross)
Oh stars
(error)
HELP
IM PASSINF AWAY
(horror)
he shaking
(cross)
Wait what if he thinks phones are like super evil now or something
Like what if he takes ours away
(killer)
Oooooh telepathic phone ooooh
Wait shit
Damn u got a point
(error)
If that happens I’m not coming over for a while
(killer)
Okay bro maybe tell him his phone isn’t gonna eat him or something I don’t want mine taken
(cross)
Yeah
(horror)
ye this funny tho
(error)
True
Gonna try explain to him
Quickly returning to Nightmare’s contact, Dust typed a message which he hoped would clear things up in a clear and concise way, because he was genuinely questioning the King’s ability to take in information easily at this point in time.
Nightmare you aren’t on Google
This is Dust
You’re texting me
He waited - rather impatiently - for Nightmare to respond, receiving only one word when he did:
What?
Unsure if his boss was still confused or just in shock, Dust repeated himself:
You’re messaging me, not searching on Google
He waited for another response, but none came. Judging by the fact that the God wasn’t burning all their electronics currently, Dust made the guess that he was probably just embarrassed. He thought for a second, before going back to Google and screenshotting the presented formula.
[Attachment: 1 image]
This is the formula by the way