Chapter Text
Rouxls Kaard was pacing around in the Scarlet Forest absentmindedly, trying to come up with puzzle ideas.
Unfortunately for him, he ended up in a place he shouldn’t have.
One moment, Rouxls was pacing back and forth, deep in thought. The next, he was in a strange place he had never seen before.
He was in a room that was almost completely empty, except for a single tree.
Rouxls was…a bit put off at first, but it was rather quiet, making it quite a nice place to think in peace.
So, Rouxls sat down underneath the tree, looked into the endless ink that was the sky, and got lost in thought.
At least, for a few seconds. Rouxls was snapped from his trance by a strange noise coming from behind the tree. It sounded almost like…static? It was…grainy, in a way…? Like, garbage noise.
Frankly, Rouxls was quite pissed; who would dare interrupt one of the greatest minds from his work?!
Rouxls stood up and puffed up his chest as he went to see what was making all that noise.
As he rounded the corner of the tree, he quickly regretted that decision he came face to face with a terrifying monochrome figure that stood behind it.
“⚐︎☟︎ ☟︎☜︎☹︎☹︎⚐︎✏︎ 👍︎✌︎☼︎☜︎ ☞︎⚐︎☼︎ 💧︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎ ❄︎☜︎✌︎✍︎” 1
Rouxls was frozen in shock. The figure was tall and lanky, yet seemed to pulsate slowly like a weird, large, black heart. A dark, crooked grin was etched onto its face. Its eyes were asymmetrical, one seemingly closed permanently into a half-wink. The figures face also had strange cracks that met with the sockets.
On top of all those things though, the strangest part about this whole situation was that the figure was pouring tea for two.
( Did I also mention that the entire tea set the figure was using was floating? Yeah, everything from the sugar bowl to the saucers. The tea set also looked pretty fancy to be honest- but that’s beside the point )
The figure gestured a full cup of tea towards Rouxls.
“Uh- no thankes…”
The figure shrugged and in an instant, the cup and saucer disappeared with the flick of a wrist.
“🕈︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ 👌︎☼︎✋︎☠︎☝︎💧︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎📪︎ ✌︎☠︎✡︎🕈︎✌︎✡︎✍︎ ✋︎❼︎💣︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎ ☜︎✠︎✌︎👍︎❄︎☹︎✡︎ ☜︎✌︎💧︎✡︎ ❄︎⚐︎ ☞︎✋︎☠︎👎︎📬︎”2
“I- I don’t understandeth thou…”
( Honestly, the figure could say the same. )
The figure sighed softly before clearing its throat.
“HeL-“, the figure’s voice cracked like crazy and turned around and hid its face in embarrassment. The figure turned back around and started speaking again.
“HELLO, I AM DR. W.D. GASTER. WHO MIGHT YOU BE?”
Gaster’s voice was deep, grainy, and…oddly… soothing???
Rouxls took a moment to gather his thoughts before also introducing himself.
“My name is Rouxls Kaard, and I am appointedest aseth the Royal Duketh of Puzzles.”
“…DO YOU HAVE TALK LIKE THAT?”
“Uhm- yeseth…?”
“ALSO, WHY IS YOUR NAME SPELT LIKE THAT?”
“Uh- How does thou knowest how my name is spelteth?”
“…LET US MOVE ON FROM THIS TOPIC.”
“…Okaye…?”
Gaster sat down, a cup of tea in his left hand, the rest of the tea set gently settling onto the ground surrounding him.
“ARE YOU QUITE SURE YOU DO NOT WANT ANY TEA? IT’S EARL GREY.”
“If thou insists…”
Rouxls sat down across from Gaster as he summoned another cup and saucer. After the floating tea pot poured tea into the cup, Gaster gently grabbed it and the saucer out of the air and handed it to Rouxls.
“Thankes.”
“MY PLEASURE. I DON’T EXACTLY GET MUCH COMPANY, AFTER ALL.”
“Well, makeths sense, I doth even knowes how I ended up hereth.”
“AH-“ Gaster sipped his tea, “WELL, ALL THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON, DO THEY NOT?”
“Hmm, I guessth so…”
Rouxls stared into his tea cup. His reflection was wobbly and distorted but even past all of the ripples, he could see that it looked scared.
“DO YOU NOT LIKE EARL GREY? I AM CAPABLE OF MAKING ANOTHER POT OF SOMETHING ELSE.”
Rouxls didn’t respond. He was so, so confused.
How did he get here? Who was this man? Why had he never seen him before?
The man seemed dangerous, even though he presented himself as kind. Something about him just screamed ‘run away’ and ‘danger’ yet Rouxls felt paralyzed.
He was scared, yes, but he was curious, and he wasn’t heartless.
After all, the man could just be lonely, he did say he didn’t get many visitors.
So, Rouxls stayed put.
-
1. “O︎H︎ H︎E︎L︎L︎O︎!︎ C︎A︎R︎E︎ F︎O︎R︎ S︎O︎M︎E︎ T︎E︎A︎?︎” return to text
2. “W︎H︎A︎T︎ B︎R︎I︎N︎G︎S︎ Y︎O︎U︎ H︎E︎R︎E︎,︎ A︎N︎Y︎W︎A︎Y︎?︎ I︎’︎M︎ N︎O︎T︎ E︎X︎A︎C︎T︎L︎Y︎ E︎A︎S︎Y︎ T︎O︎ F︎I︎N︎D︎.︎” return to text