HAZE

Obscured Sense of Self

The first week with the scientist twins proved to be a disaster, if Toriel were honest with herself.

"Child, what on Earth are you doing on the ceiling?" she demanded, hands on her hips. She strained her neck to look up, Wingdings barely glancing down at her from his book. She'd found him like this after looking for two hours; half-tempted to tear the house to pieces just to find him and give him a good ear-chewing. She hadn't even thought to look up.

"Reading," he answered, voice dull, before picking up where he left off. His hands translated his words for him, so Toriel understood his every word.

"Can't you read on the floor?"

"That would be defeating the purpose of challenging gravity and its limits, Ms. Toriel." He and his brother had dropped her former title after she'd finally gotten through to them that she was no longer the Queen. Still, Wingdings, ever attached to his formalities, refused to just call her by her name. She gave up fighting him about it a while ago.

"Challenging gravity--this is absurd! Get down here this instant!"

Wingdings quirked an eyebrow, not bothering to move a muscle.

"Wingdings, get down from there immediately, or else I'll--"

Crash! BANG!

The commotion came from the kitchen.

"What...?" Startled, Toriel turned and rushed inside, eyes widening as soon as she entered the doorway. "Oh...my..."

Where the stove once stood in the kitchen now smoldered a black, smoking pile of nothing, the wall scorched and charred. Pots and pans laid scattered on the floor from open cupboards above. Standing in the middle of the kitchen, a panicking, sweating mess, was Aster.

"No, no, no--I didn't mean to do that, I--I--ack!" Upon catching sight of Toriel, he jumped and bowed his head, playing with his sleeves and kicked at his heel with his other foot. "H-Hey, Toriel! L-Listen, um...it's not what it looks like?"

Toriel crossed her arms.

"I, uh..." he looked around the room, searching for help that wouldn't be arriving anytime soon. "...W-Well, at least it went out with a bang, right?"

Toriel raised an eyebrow, fighting back a smile.

Tearing up at this point, Aster bit his lip and rubbed his eyes--anything to avoid the pressure of being looked down on. "...I-I'm sorry," he said at last, sniffling. "I didn't mean--"

"It's alright, Aster," Toriel reassured, even though she knew full well it was a lie. But, she didn't like to see children cry. "I needed a new stove anyway--though, you do need to clean this mess up. Or else I will be mad."

"Y...Yes, ma'am."

Toriel offered a smile, seeing as the boy had regained his composure. "...What were you doing, anyway?" she asked.

Aster glanced to the side, tapping his thumbs together. At the question, a slow smirk crawled onto his face, lopsided from the crack on his jaw. "Oh, yanno," he shrugged. "Just spicin' it up a bit in here."

Toriel snorted, "You were cooking? Child, why didn't you ask for my help?"

"Well, I've cooked before. Used to be an adult and all that--guess it's just been a while? Plus, ah...a dog might've startled me."

"...A dog?"

"Ms. Toriel! There's a disgusting mutt in here and it's being very annoying and affectionate!"