Inkwhumptobertale 2024

Day Seventeen

Father's Day - Finding Old Messages

Trigger warnings: nothing, really. Unless fluff is triggering.

By the way, this short briefly references a pretty old piece of literature called "The Horla" by the author Guy de Maupassant, and, if you're into old short horror stories, I would definitely recommend it! I read it a while ago, and it really gripped me at points - I couldn't put it down! Just thought I'd mention it, because I don't really think it's very popular, and the reference would probably be confusing without context. (And if you're into rock music, the song by Angel Witch based on the story with the same name (The Horla) is also a banger, hehe!)

Side note: I think the gang would totally get random obscure literature references, since they live with the multiverse's certified bookworm Nightmare! I can imagine them making subtle references that go over everyone else's heads because of it.

Comments are welcome and appreciated! 

Please enjoy!

~~~~~

Nightmare was out, and he had left his gang at home. That normally wouldn't have been a problem, but today was Father's Day - the one day of the year when the gang members typically didn't do well. Despite the fact that only about half of the Gasters in the multiverse had been either good or bad to their children (the ones that were even related to the skeleton brothers, anyway), all four of Nightmare's gang members had been saddled with..just about the worst of the worst. They all tried to deny it, but their former parental figures had left marks on them, and every Father's Day had become a brutally-silent reminder of the life they'd all once had to go through. Nightmare typically stuck around to help the gang stay grounded in reality, but since he wasn't here, the gang had to find something else to focus on. Horror had wanted to spend the day cooking, since that was the easiest way for him to ignore all his other problems, but after nearly burning breakfast, he decided against it; the memories just weren't going away, today..

Killer, Dust, and Cross hadn't had much luck with their own distractions, either. Cross's training had nearly turned into a panic attack, while Dust's decision to nap all day had been plagued by some pesky insomnia, and Killer..hadn't had a plan at all. Eventually, the gang had congregated in the living room to figure out what they were going to do today.

"Um, what did boss do with us last year?" Cross inquired. 

"Movie marathon." Dust replied. 

"I can't sit still." Killer admitted.

"The year before?" Horror asked. 

"Outertale." Cross recalled. "But I don't want to leave without his knowledge.."

"Are we really so pathetic that we can't survive a day without him?" Dust let out a sigh, covering his face with his hood. 

"Um..how about we go see if he's got anything in his office?" Killer suggested. "Maybe he left behind a note for us?"

"The odds of that are low." Cross informed.

"But not zero." Horror shrugged. "Let's check."

So the four got up from their seats in the living room and made their way to their boss's office, which was conveniently not locked (it was almost never locked - Nightmare encouraged the boys to seek him out if they ever needed him) today. The gang filed into the room, looking to Nightmare's desk first for things to do. 

"What are these?" Horror inquired, picking up a stack of papers.

"Trade negotiations." Cross replied, being quite familiar with them. "It's mostly related to stuff I'm in charge of, since I can make portals."