Tea Over Souls

SFW. Contains asgore and asriel consuming human souls in a humorous fashion.
i really hope this doesn't actually turn people on.


	The bright light showered the room with a darkening orange, highlighting the already royal colors and decors strewn about the walls, adding to the plentiful amount of yellow surrounding their wood table in the throne room. It wasn’t often Asgore would have to prepare dinner alone for his son, but tonight was one night where Toriel had escaped to her friends in Snowdin to cook and gossip over wine, leaving the king behind with his prince.

	Instead of going back to and fro the kitchen in the separate part of their home, Asgore decided that the fading sunset would be a good backdrop for his new favorite dish. He walked into the room, trying to avoid crushing the delicate flowers beneath his feet as he made his way to the oaken table in front of his throne, carrying two pies in tow.

	The young prince trailed behind him, paling in size to his father who stood towering over the small table made for smaller monsters. While he always preferred his mother’s cooking after getting taste for his father’s on a few occasions, he promised something better. His heart was always in the cooking, but just pies wouldn’t make for much of a meal in Asriel’s mind.

	“Now son, you take a seat and pour us both some tea, I picked your favorite. I’ll go back and fetch dinner for us both.”

	Asriel perked up at the sound of ceramics clattering onto the table, worried about his father’s jolly clumsiness. The young caprine moved past him to sit down at the table as his father shot him a joyous smile, turning back towards the entrance to the throne room.

	“Golly,” the prince whispered under his breath, “I hope it isn’t his version of snail pie again.”

	Asriel looked down to the platters and tea set and started to get to work. He wasn’t often tasked by his dad with pouring tea because he took every opportunity to prepare tea for every monster in the underground himself, but it never looked too difficult for the prince of monsterkind.

	The weight of the liquid in the pot required the strength of both his arms so he wouldn’t splash the delectable drink everywhere. He managed to get one steaming cup finished as he could hear his father’s humming faintly in the distance, accompanied by some heavier footsteps. Asriel poured his own drink, the fragrant scent of the flowery tea was certainly his favorite. He sat down and tried to look as prepared as he could to impress his father.

	The gold-maned boss monster sauntered into the room with what looked like two giant mechanical prisms, glowing each a separate color. The weight looked impossibly heavy, but Asgore seemed to handle it with ease. He towed two under both arms to the side of the table, setting them both down with a loud thump as their weight dug into the ground

	Asgore gave a weary sigh before turning his attention to the prince. “Now son, I guess I have some explaining to do.”

	Asgore moved to the other side of the table, seating himself in the chair opposite Asriel, the tiny wooden chair surprisingly managing to hold his muscular weight as he reached for his cup and carefully gripped at the handle before taking a loud sip. He smiled at the taste, closing his eyes and reveling in the delightful flavor, starting to hum to himself as his basked in the warm light coming over his face.

	He opened an eye and look down to the prince who was slowly having at his own drink while still looking up confusedly. Asgore decided to break the silence in room. “Hmm, just hot enough for our dinner. I’d say I’m getting much better at boiling the water to the right temperature, wouldn’t you say so son?”

	He let out a hearty giggle as Asriel nodded with a toothy smile of his own. “I guess you’re still wondering about, well, these things.” The boss monster patted the closest canister that glowed a vibrant shade of yellow, what looked like a floating heart stuck still in the center of the glass.

	Asgore took in a deep breath before looking back to his son. “Ever since, well…” Asgore pressed his fingers together, trying to maintain a happy guise for Asriel “Ever since Chara passed, your mom and I, well mostly me I guess, have shifted our focus with humans who fall into the underground.”

	Asriel’s smile faded and his expression grew more somber, a sad sight for the father’s heart. Asgore could feel himself growing nervous at having to explain his actions and reasons. It was hard enough with his wife, but even with his innocent son he already seemed to tense up.

	“Many more humans have fallen into the underground, far away in the ruins. I’ve stationed the royal guard there to protect us from them. When they, erm, well…” Asgore started rubbing his head at the growing sadness welling in his son’s eyes. He hated to use the word, in his heart even he hated it, but it was a natural part of life.

	“When the humans die their soul lasts for a little bit. A, uh, a scientist in our labs whipped up these strange doohickeys that can put them in stasis, kind of like food being kept in a refrigerator if that makes sense?”

	Asriel set his cup down, his idle humming of the tune his father made began sounding as if he was on the verge of trembling. “Dad, why do you have their souls in a refrigerator?”

	Asgore summoned his innermost willpower to create a convincing smile, feeling as though he had already worked through the harder part of his explanation. “You see son, human souls are quite the delicacy! I’ve had a fair share of them under the counter before we all came underground, just don’t tell your mother. These machines keep their souls from totally fading, preserving them and their flavor.”

	Asgore hefted the yellow container with one hand, placing it closer to his side. “Isn’t it just fascinating what monsters can whip up with technology nowadays?”

	Asriel’s expression turned from sad, to blank, to more cheery, his hands coming to clasp together in his lap as he shot Asgore the first sincere smile since the start of the awkward conversation. “Golly dad, it sure is! So, how do you open them?”

	The excitement in his son’s voice eased the elder goat’s heart, grabbing onto and holding the canister up to his chest. “Well, each one has a valve that I can turn to take off one of the end caps. Each one can only hold one soul, and each soul is just a little different.”

	Asgore turned the cylinder around in his lap, inspecting the glowing soul closely as his son watched in amazement. “Hmm, this one’s a good vintage, and it’s yellow flavor.” The king reached over the table, using his strength to heft the container with the blue glow closer to the young boss monster.

	“I like yellow ones so much because they wiggle a little bit before going down, feisty little things.” Asgore giggled to himself with shut eyes, opening them between short breaths to see a somewhat shocked look on his sons face.

	“They…” Asriel craned his head as he looked as the vessel containing the soul to his side with some concern on his face, “wiggle?”

	Asgore stammered to find a better explanation. “Think of it like when mom makes us snail pie. They move a little bit before we swallow them. Since human souls are still a little active, they writhe a little bit. I think it’s an acquired taste for the most discerning of monster royalty, and the texture is amazing in my mind.”

	Asriel’s eyes widened at the explanation, mesmerized by the complexities of fine dining with his old man. “Golly, I never knew human souls could make such good food. I wanna eat one now!”

	Asriel peered around the blue container inquisitively, looking high and low for the valve to open it and obtain part of his meal. Asgore gave a chuckle and reached over the table, latching a hand onto the top side of the device and turning it, quickly removing the lid and grabbing at the blue soul in a singular motion.

	“Now hold on tight, blue souls don’t put up that much of a fight but the feeling might be new to you.”

	Asgore pinched the squirming blue soul with two dull claws, delicately pulling it from the container and placing it in his son’s hands. Asriel jumped at the feeling of it falling into his grasped, followed by chuckling that turned into hearty giggling.

	“Geez dad, it’s so mushy and it feels like it’s wet but it isn’t! This is so cool!”

	Asgore giggled along with his son’s newfound fascination, moving his hands to his own yellow container. “Now look at this one.” Asgore performed the same motion, letting the lid fall to the side as the active yellow soul seemed to be attempting to escape his tight pincer grip. “See how this one is constantly moving in my hand son? They do this all the way down, it’s quite the feeling! I’ll be sure to let you try one another time, unfortunately you can’t really share souls.”

	Asgore tilted his head back, raising his food over his widening maw as he readied himself. “Down the hatch!”  The caprine let go, the soul landing against his tongue before using the fleshy appendage to push it further down, feeling the already moist-like soul becoming further wetted by his saliva, the writhing food slowly traveling down his esophagus while pushing against his muscles, the taste and feeling indescribable as it travels further down until is landed in his stomach where it continued to move, its motions slowly grinding to a halt.

	Asgore rubbed at his stomach through his shirt, the squirming feeling of the soul slowly fading after a couple of seconds. “That was certainly a good age, nice and ripe. Now you try son!”

	The amazement grew in Asriel’s eyes, his head craning back as his hands moved over his open mouth, mimicking his father’s actions. He lets the soul drop into his mouth, accidentally hitting his snout first as it lazily rolled further down into his mouth, the young goat letting out a loud swallow as his expression turned silly.

	The prince’s eyes widened for a moment, before he started to wrap his arms around himself, twisting his head to a side before shaking a few times. “Wowie dad that feels…” The monster paused and hiccupped, followed by a burp as he scratched at both his furred ears, his smile eventually returning. “Strong.”

	Asgore let out a cacophonous laugh that could probably be heard by Toriel all the way in Snowdin, his booming voice echoing throughout the room and the rest of his home. “Golly son, you took it like a champ, just as a prince should! Now that’ll be all of our souls for now, I’ve got some pies prepared to go with our appetizer.”

	Asgore hummed to himself as he sat up and grabbed for the pies further down the table, grabbing one in each hand and setting them in front of the two of them. Asriel’s head has already slouched forward, his grin growing at the scent of the pies while his eyes said he wouldn’t be able to eat anything.

	“Are you feeling it son? It is quite a numbing feeling your first time, but even I didn’t handle it well when my father let me try my first soul. Just don’t tell your mom I let you have something from our soul-cellar or she’ll…”

	Asriel raised his head, looking as though it was a struggle just to keep his eyes open and flashed a tired half-smile before giving the king a thumbs up. “A prince always keeps his secrets safe dad. I just hope she doesn’t come home and sees me like this before she tucks me in for bedtime.”

	The two had another laugh before digging into their dinner: Asgore’s attempt at snail pie. Asriel tried to suppress his drowsiness, the soul going right through him and making him fumble with his silver-plated cutlery constantly. Asgore quickly chowed through his own meal, having developed a sense of pride in closely recreating his wives fantastic delicacies.

	Asriel dropped his fork with another hiccup, slumping into the table somewhat while partially leaning off his chair. “You know dad…” Asriel picked himself up planted both his elbows firmly into the table, supporting his head in his hands, having to focus all of his energy on finding his father’s eyes before starting up once more, “remember when I said I always thought Chara, uh, wasn’t the nicest person?”

	The sudden bravery from his son both confused and excited the king, not often was it Asriel was able to bring up this sensitive topic without breaking into tears like the crybaby he was. Asgore set aside his attention for his meal and locked eyes with the smaller caprine whose smile was beginning to widen.

	“What is it my child? Is it something you would like to talk about? I know I’m not as good as your mother when it comes to these things bu-“

	Asriel slammed a paw down on the table, interrupting his father with a loud crash as he knocked over his plate, sending some of the contents flying. “I always hated them so much dad, their dumb smile and red cheeks, ever since they...”
Asriel cut himself off, raising a finger to his father, “To be honest dad, you should have taken their…” The drunken ramblings paused as Asriel slumped forward again, his head falling onto his arm, an ear drooping over his eyes and covering his vision as he began to snore.

	Asgore’s scared eyes scanned the room, hoping there wasn’t some invisible intruder who may have come during the intoxicated outburst. After reassuring himself, the king stood from his seat and quickly took both containers in his arms, jogging down to the cellar and returning to find the slumbering prince still out cold in his seat.

	With a single teary eye, Asgore’s lips curled into a smile as he carefully picked his son into his arms and began the trek back home to put him to sleep. “I hated them too, my little champ, I hated them too.”