Fresh New Antivirus

Ch. 22 - He's What !?!?

Back with Fresh, Nightmare dragged him past the food table and Fresh discreetly snagged a sandwich on the way, trading it for his bucket of popcorn. Horror gave a confused, but nonetheless amused smile at the trade.

'Nootmare's' grumbling over the new nickname was interrupted by Blue's sudden exclamation of "HE'S WHAT!?" at top volume.

Fresh thought he spotted a moment of a concerned expression pass over Nightmare's expression when they turned to see what the commotion was about.

Rather than an explanation, he and Nightmare received a nervous dismissive wave from Blue as Error facepalmed. Fresh shrugged it off and Nightmare seemed content for the moment to let it be (or remove Fresh further from hearing distance), as Blue was trying to play it off.

Nightmare did a double take at the sandwich in Fresh's hold as they continued to the stage.

"Weren't you eating popcorn?" Nightmare asked, confused.

"Yep!" Fresh agreed, taking a bite.

Nightmare decided this line of questioning was not worth pursuing.

Making it up the stage steps to where a Tv balanced on romance novels, a chair with a top hat, and a paper with a pencil wait, Fresh was certainly curious about the karaoke game. Nightmare let go of Fresh and looked around for a moment. It seemed he was looking for someone.

Cross popped his head up from behind the tv, likely having finished setting things up, holding a small carton of chocolate milk. He blinked in surprise before giving a hesitant smile to Fresh.

"hi. i'm cross."

He grabbed the edge of his scarf to pull up above his mouth in what seemed to be a nervous habit. Or to hide a milk mustache. Fresh wasn't gonna judge.

"Coolio." Fresh said, giving Cross a side hug. "I'm the radtastic Fresh." He said gesturing with a sandwich laden hand. "I be new to the multiversal neighborhood as it were, my fly fella bro. Pleasure ta mee ya, criss-cross!"

Fresh took another bite of his traded goodie and released the shorter skeleton - though that description applied to almost all party goers present. There were still exceptions however.

Fresh glanced toward the ghost Chara floating nearby chatting with a ghost Papyrus that seemed to be just a skull, scarf and mittens. Fresh's shades prevented the action from being noticed, but he didn't let his gaze linger long. Figuring that the last ghost Chara he dealt with was surprised to be seen, it was probably best to pretend he couldn't see them(?) ... him? Seemed like a him.

Most of the Chara's and Frisk's Fresh has met seemed nonbinary. Except Core who seemed a little more like a girl, but not quite. A demi-girl perhaps? Fresh probably should have asked about preferred pronouns. Well - when in doubt, neutral pronouns too the save! If it bothers them, he's sure they'll say something.

All the skeletons Fresh had met so far were clearly male, but he wouldn't be surprised if he was wrong or if that wasn't the case for all of the skeles he'd meet in the future.

"Cross." Nightmare said, relieved to pass the task to someone else. "Explain the rules to Fresh. I'll just be over there if you need me."

He pointed a tentacle to the punch where Blue and Error were standing, a jug of juice in a confused Blue's hold. Dust appeared distracted with Lust who was gesturing seriously.

The rest of the room had a pretty relaxed atmosphere.

Killer was on his phone - filming or gaming, it was impossible to tell. Chaos was surprisingly peaceful while playing on their switch. Sci was working on papers. Core seemed to be gone. Red and Horror were chatting over the food.