Alphys bit her lip, thinking for a moment as she stared at the robotic box in front of her. It was... the best she'd managed, using the bits of scraps she could scrounge up from the dump. The outcome, all things considered, wasn't actually that terrible. The body was by far her most ambitious project, and it had turned out better than she could hope.
The ghost monster floated beside her, grinning at the body she saw before her.
"I um... I-I uh..." Alphys seemed to be struggling to find her words as she nervously rubbed at the sleeve of the overcoat she was wearing, olive in color, faded, and patched. It used to belong to her mom, who...
She didn't really want to think about that.
Hapstablook stared at the box for several more moments, before glancing at Alphys. "So... I can...?" she asked, still grinning just as wide. Alphys gave her a nod, and the ghost immediately vanished, barely a second later the box began to rattle and shake, before it blossomed to life with lights, sound, and rolling about excitedly on a single wheel, waving its arms about for a moment.
"Oh, it's wonderful!" the new voice was robotic coming from the box, but it still was capable of providing emotion. Alphys stared at Hapstablook as she whirled about for a good few minutes, until she rolled to a stop in front of the monster. "It's lovely, absolutely lovely darling, just... one question? This voice, it's very masculine."
"O-oh, yeah, s-sorry..." Alphys rubbed her arm again. "It's j-just a placeholder, I-I can make a... a uh... a n-new one..."
"Are you kidding? I love it! Now I can sing baritone!" the robot replied happily. "I mean- not that I couldn't before, but now it will be so much simpler."
Alphys didn't reply as Hapstablook continued zooming about for several moments, then came to a stop at the edge of the river, gazing down into it for a moment. "Alphys, darling," she called. "I must say, you've really pulled through, and... well... thank you. I can't express to you enough how much I appreciate this," she turned to look at Alphys, who gave an awkward smile.
"I-It was... no problem..."
"No problem? Darling, this body is magnificent! You mentioned it was for human eradication before, right?"
"W-well, yeah... I-I wanted to... s-show it to the k-king but I-I... w-well... I just... I couldn't p-program it, and... well... yeah..."
"Alphys, we've been friends for a long time now, I think you deserve a little something out of this miracle you've performed for me too!" Hapstablook replied, rolling up to the reptilian monster and placing an arm around her shoulder. "Tell you what. I can think of a way for this body to work in both of our favors."
"Y-you can?"
"Of course I can! I'm me, after all," she placed a hand importantly on her flat front. "With this awesome new bod, I don't have to be afraid to show off my talents anymore, I can be somebody new! A new name, a rising star! Oh, and if any humans fall down here I can perform those other duties as well."
Alphys gulped. "A-and... me?"
"You present me to the King, of course!" Hapstablook chortled. "We forgo the whole 'ghost possessing hunk of metal' thing and let the official story be that you just... made me. This is for that scientist position, right?"
"B-but... isn't that... cheating?"
"Darling, it's not cheating if nobody knows," Hapstablook bopped a finger against Alphys' nose, before rolling around the monster in a circle a few times. "Just think about it! You can finally get out of the dump, get royal status, and have access to the best technology the underground has! If you could make this body out of scraps just imagine what you could do with real resources!"
