A New Era

Chapter 3: Egg Shells

Another meeting. Another brief. Another talk. Another chunk of time set aside for him to be hated for opening his mouth for anything.

    Ink was... dreading the meeting? Frustrated with it? Saddened by it? He didn't really know how he felt about it.

Granted, the meetings were something he arranged himself. When he found that the last version would randomly call meetings and make everyone else drop whatever they were doing (no matter how important) to attend, he wanted to fix that by having meetings on the weekends after lunch. This way, they could schedule around it and, if anything needed to be said, the person would have plenty of time to say what they needed to say.

    It had sounded like a good idea at first. That was before he was hit with everything the older version did and found that the other council members were fine with the meetings so long as he never said anything. The moment he opened his mouth to make a point, correct something, or disagree with something because it wasn't possible, he was glared at by everyone including Dream.

    As he looked down at the list of things he had to talk about, he mentally crossed out all but one. He wouldn't be able to make it past one point with the hatred that would choke him. While they hadn't been his own sins, he couldn't stop the feeling of the old version's actions crawling up his back.

    He took a deep breath, forced on a smile and made his way to the meeting room on the third floor. He passed a few people in the halls as he walked. Some offered shy smiles before running into the nearest room or regarded him with cold, calculated looks. He certainly didn't feel embarrassed just walking down the hall. Absolutely not.

He was always the first one to the meeting room. The meeting was in ten minutes and everyone usually was five minutes early so he'd have plenty of time to mentally prepare himself for the hate that was sure to come. He opened the the door and was surprised to find Classic standing at the window, looking down at the Plaza with a calm look. He seemed content to just stand there.

"Good morning," Ink said, letting his smile be a bit more genuine.

Classic's eyes darted to look at him before his face gained an apathetic look, "Mornin'."

Ink felt himself wince at the look before letting his eyes fall to the ground as he made his way to the seat at the head of the table.

As Ink sat down to sort through his papers, Classic turned back to the Plaza, albeit with a colder look than before. Ink hated the silence. It was cold and oppressive all towards him. For something he personally didn't do nor something he could've controlled.

    "What are you doin?" Classic asked, his tone light but eye staring coldly at him.

    Ink was confused until he looked down and noticed that he had been sketching on one of the papers. He quickly hid the paper and cleared his throat.

    "Just doodling I guess," he said softly. Classic stared at him long enough for Ink to get uncomfortable before turning away.

    They fell into silence again as Ink looked down and saw that he had been sketching with a pen. Great. He has ruined a professional paper.

    "So, what's the meeting about?" Classic asked casually, not looking away from the window this time.

    "O-oh. I'm hoping to talk about how we could possibly speed up the building process for the outcode houses," Ink said, looking at the first thing on his list.

    "Anything else?" Classic asked.

    Yes. I have three paper's worth of stuff I think is important to talk about, he wanted to say, but he kept his mouth shut. "No. That's all."

    Classic nodded and the silence came back for a moment more before everyone started to file in. Blueberry was talking to Error and X-Gaster excitedly while Dream, Nightmare, and Justice all seemed to be in a playful argument. He was surprised to see X-Gaster listening as he always kept up a strictly professional appearance. He wasn't upset or anything by it. He was more relieved for find him getting comfortable with his position and those around him.

    Soon, everyone was seated and getting comfortable. Ink decided to get at least one of his points on the table and he made it the biggest concern.

Ink cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. He got immediate glares for doing so, but everyone quieted down.

"So, after integrating the Underground and the Districts together, I've noticed a large problem," Ink opened up with, forcing his eye lights to make contact with everyone's lights individually. Gaster's lights darkened almost immediately.

"Not everyone across the districts want to take care of their ship children and neither do they have the resources to care for them," Ink continued, looking down at his lists now instead. "I'm proposing we either build an orphanage for them or dedicate a special wing of the Center for them."

It didn't take long for him to be ridiculed for a while. After a few hours of taking every hit with a smile or looking like he was doodling instead of paying attention, someone took the idea as their own and were discussing options.

This was normal routine at this point. He didn't add anymore to the talk and neither did he take anything away. Everyone was content with ignoring him unless they wanted to make a jab at him.

He was fine. This was normal. Everything was better. Even the pain in his soul could be ignored if it meant that eventually they would realize that he wasn't the old version...

    That day was nothing but a wish.

~§~

He watched as everyone filed out of the room. He pretended that he was gathering his papers despite them all being in a stack already. He waited until he heard the door close to lift his eyes.

    He always did this. Once everyone was gone, he'd look out the window for a bit, put the room back in order, and totally not cry as he did so.

    To his surprise, Classic had stayed behind and was staring him down as he rose from his seat.

    "Umm, what are you still doing here?" Ink asked, keeping his voice innocently curious. Anything else would earn him a glare.

    "Curious as to why you were pretending to gather your papers," he said simply. "They're already in a stack. They don't need to be organized."

    "O-oh. Well...," Ink tried to think. He couldn't lie to Classic (almost any Sans was a natural lie detector) and he was terrible at avoiding questions (probably the work of Toby to prevent manipulation). Bottomline, he was screwed with the question.

He started panicking when he remembered that Classic was waiting for an answer.

"I'll just leave," Ink said, picking up the stack and walking out before Classic could ask another question.

Ink nearly jogged back to his office, trying to meet everyone's glare with a smile. He got to his office and shut the door silently behind him.

He dropped the stack on his desk before going straight to his room. He totally did not collapse on his bed and certainly did not cry for the next few hours.

Absolutely not. He was just made to be more empathetic. Not a crybaby. He would be fine though. Even if he had to walk on eggshells for the rest of time, he could make it through. He deserved it anyway.

——

Angst anyone? Couldn't help but get angsty for the new Ink. He's dealing with a lot.

Anyways, tell me what you think in the comments and don't be afraid to criticize or ask questions! 😁