Ch 2

Like it or not, ready for it or not, the big day had come.

Rook sat in a creaky plastic chair, giving weary smiles to the other scientists arranged along the hallway wall— All of them human, which duh, made sense.

The monster embassy could be said to be... A bit underwhelming, actually. The squat, 80’s style building had obviously been hastily converted some time after monsters had emerged those couple of decades ago.

Amazing progress had been made in this place, but it didn’t stop Rook from feeling like she was settled in at the DMV waiting for a driving test.

At least the flowers and plants perched everywhere brightened the place up a bit.

Everyone looked up at the sound of a door opening, and the person done interviewing shuffled out with a smile on her face. She was already retrieving her phone to excitedly call someone; jostling the papers in her hands in the process.

Well, that was encouraging!

A short, yellow monster poked her snout out the doorway, adjusting her crooked glasses as she peers over a list.

“A-alright... let’s.. le-et’s see. Next! D-Doctor Wil- Wilder?”

She gazes hopefully around the hallway, and Rook nearly leaps out of her seat. Oh! It was the Royal Scientist! She’d seen the monster once or twice before at the labs, but never introduced herself formally.

“Doctor Alphys! It’s so nice to finally meet you!Your work with robotics is amazing.” Rook offers a smile and a handshake, which is returned— if a bit limply.

“O-oh! Well th-thank you.. I-I believe y-you work at the Royal Labs?” Alphys flushes an endearing red at the complements. It was surprising to see the royal scientist here, but a nice one.

“Yes ma’am. In the magi-biology department.”

“Oh! Th-that was, heh, one thing I-I could... n-never get the hang of.”

She trails off, motioning the other woman with a claw to step inside. Assuming that the pleasantries were done with, Rook follows— mindful of not stepping on the monster’s tail.

Now for the fun part. Her nervousness comes back in full force now that the novelty of meeting her childhood idol had quickly worn off.

Alphys clears her throat, catching Rook’s attention.

“I-I... Am present today to ensure that his majesty has full understanding of the presentations. T-technical jargon is-is not his uh.. F-forte.” It sounds like this bit of hers is rehearsed. Not surprising, really. That explains why the doctor is here at all.

“Right.”

Alphys leads her into the office, and Rook stops in her tracks at seeing The King of All Monsters.

He is massive. She knew that, but watching a tv and seeing him in person made a world of difference. Those curving horns would likely scrape the ceiling if he stood, and she wondered how in the hell he even got in and out of this room.

Or why they hadn’t renovated the embassy in the first place.

Rook likened the awe she felt to how a diver might feel when swimming beside a whale. Except the whale is incredibly fluffy and currently fixing her with a kind, soft smile.

She hastily bows at the waist, reverent and shaky with nerves.

“Rise, Doctor. There’s no need for such formalities.” He waves a dismissive paw, but doesn’t stand. Likely couldn’t without having a ceiling tile crack over his head.

It kind of feels like all Rook does these days is shake hands, but alas, tis the life of a professional setting.

“Doctor Wilder. I’m honored you decided to meet me today.” Except this time, she lays her hand in a paw so large that the king could honestly hold it and most of her forearm at once. He only folds his thumb over her hand, and so carefully shakes. The pads are calloused, but the fur that brushes her fingers is silky.

“The honor is mine, dear child. I have reviewed your notes, and I’m incredibly keen to hear of your plans.”

“Th-thank you, your majesty! I’m pretty keen to begin these studies! This could help humankind so much...” She scrambles to retrieve her files, offering them to him. Rook continues on in a rush—

“So! I-I uh... I need to take samples of non-monster life. To determine if the effects of increased ambient MU has long term effects on the N-M-L that exists in the underground. Also of how MU dissipates in them in a non-MU environment! It should be really fascinating— A-Also really helpful for my uh... main research.”

King Asgore has taken out an absolute tiny pair of spectacles and perched them on his snout, making the appropriate noises to her rushed rambling as his eyes scan over the papers.

Doctor Alphys interjects— “m-MU means ‘magical-unit’ and N-M-L is, in monster terms, the a-abbreviation of-of ‘non monster life’.”

“Ah, I see...” Asgore is still reading over Rook’s writing, probably not understanding half of it but still giving consideration.

“But tell me, what do you plan to do with this research?” He looks up with a calculating gaze, and Rook feels like she’s being stared into her very soul.

“I want! I want to... Have ways to make healing magic work for humanity. With that, we could heal grave wounds, cure... hopefully, cancer patients! Prevent invasive surgeries!” She’s entirely earnest, can feel deep down in her soul the benefits of such. Monsters had so, so much ability, but none of the sicknesses of humans— Healing magic was why.

King Asgore continues taking her in, mulling over Rook’s words. There’s several nerve racking moments where he says nothing, but finally, a smile graces his muzzle once more.

“Of course I will let you continue your study. How can I deny someone so eager and willing to help people?” He leans back into his chair, gigantic, fitting for a king like him.

“It’s very kind of you to consider others above yourself. I will approve your research. I will allow you to go underground.”

“W-wait. Really?!—“ She’s flabbergasted, and was already about to ramble even more “- I can, ah, I can tell you more in depth about my theories?”

He waves her off, chuckling so deep she can almost feel it in her chest.

“If your intent is to attempt something as groundbreaking as allowing non-monsters to use positive magics... I will be keeping an eye on your progress.” Asgore glances over to Alphys, whom is currently twiddling a pen around in her claws.

“The two of you work at the Aboveground Royal Lab, do you not? If you could please send update reports to Dr. Alphys, that would be wonderful! And Dr. Alphys, if you would be so kind as to forward them to me?”

“Y-yes sir!” Both women chime in!

Rook blanches a bit at the thought of having the king keep tabs on her, but well! That also might mean future funding!

“Thank you very much. You may leave now, Dr. Wilder. I appreciate your time, but we have others waiting and I’m quite sure you are eager to begin packing.” There’s a teasing twinkle in his eyes as he hides a wry smile in his beard.

Laughing in sheer joy, The human makes a hasty retreat outside.

——

Though she’s happy, Rook cant help but feel drained as she slumps in her car. All those nerves... and it turns out that King Asgore really is a big softie— albeit a fairly intimidating one.

She cant believe her luck. Her dreams, her theories... they were all one step closer to being completed!

Pulling out of the lot and getting waved through the guard station, she makes plans to contact her coworker when she returns home.

Both Rook and Naia agreed to continue their research once this next step was put into motion. He was good at healing magic, and had aided her in their initial, exploratory animal tests.

He was gonna be so pumped about this!

The both of them would have to review the reports and make future theories on the long term. Most lab animals simply did not live long enough for the health committee to be satisfied with their results.

But if her experiments turned out well with the underground samples? Well, this could be their big break!