{Handplates chapter references: What they call "foreshadowing", Just another day}

"People are getting very concerned-" Gaster interrupted Asgore. He sat right across from him at the table along with Alphys.

'I know and we're working on it, the surges-'

A tiny patter of feet was heard as a small mouse monster marched into the room. He wore green trousers, as well as a yellow helmet and safety gloves.

"Hey!", shouted the small creature from the bottom of his lungs to catch the attention of his superiors.

"Hey, hey! I need to talk to you!!", the small rodent monster waved his hand to underline the urgency for his intrusion.
A wave of annoyance flashed across Gaster's face as he was so rudely interrupted. Asgore, on the other hand, just turned to him with a gentle smile: "Oh hello there. Is something on your mind?"

'Your majesty, I thought this meeting was for approved staff only-', Gaster tried to butt in but, of course, Asgore didn't mind the interruption.

"Now now, Gaster, I can always make time for a concerned citizen. What's on your mind, my friend?" He leaned down and picked the small soul up to help him onto the table so he could actually talk to the others on the same eye-level: "I want to talk about the Core!"

"Yes, what about it?", Alphys finally spoke up as well. Despite being one of the most important individuals at the table, she mostly sat on the sidelines, too scared about interrupting anyone but she couldn't stay silent forever.

"People don't feel safe in there! We're always understaffed and people are worried about falling in!", said the old mouse, now his tone somewhat irritated.

"F-falling in?", asked Alphys to make sure she understood his concerns correctly.

"Yeah! Especially 'cause the place is always shufflin' around for no good reason!", the anger of the monster became more apparent as his accent shone through more when he spoke. He pointed at Gaster as if he was secretly blaming him for whatever was going on with the Core.

It made sense. It was his invention and he was the one who planned this whole thing to begin with. It was only logical to blame him.

Gaster immediately grew offended, his brows furrowed: 'Excuse me, that feature keeps the entire construct in line with traditional puzzle principles-'

Gaster tried to defend his invention with all he had. He did create these plans with you after all. He wouldn't just let another, less educated vermin trample it down like this.

The small individual threw his hands up, ready to pick a fight with Gaster if necessary: "The only thing puzzlin' about it, is why you eggheads can't even put some safety rails into your fancy designs!"

Truth was, you did think about it...you did mention it but just like now, Gaster had rejected the idea back then, deeming it as unnecessary.

'Like you know anything about proper design-'

Asgore raised his hand, his voice calm and somewhat loud as he drew the attention back on him: "Everyone calm down, please. You said you were understaffed?"

"Yeah! We should be working in pairs so we'll know if somethin' happens to someone! We need a buddy system, but there ain't buddies to go around in there!"

Alphys spoke up, her fingers lightly grazing her chin as she thought: "A-are you sure? Th-that's weird...I mean, y-you're right that makes sense but...don't we always hire people in pairs..? I thought we did..."

Gaster crossed his arms in front of his chest, still an annoyed look on his face: 'Yes, I'm sure...'

He was more than confident in his response but there was a twinge of doubt pulling on his mind. Gaster quickly revoked his statement, now trying to wrap his head around the situation as well: 'I'm almost sure..'

"Well, go ahead 'n check, there ain't no pairs in there! You gotta do somethin', it's not safe!"

'Has anyone in the Core ever reported any accident?', Gaster asked. In his mind, it didn't make sense. He was sure that he took all the necessary precautions to avoid any work accidents.

But there was just something, that didn't add up and it was driving him insane. No matter how hard he tried to dig in his brain for answers, it was as if he hit an invisible wall and he could not grasp what he was looking for.

The small monster was silent for a moment, trying to recall any reported incidents. "Well...no, but, it COULD happen! And if someone fell in, they're not gonna be able to report it, are they, smart guy?"

This small bundle of fur was really starting to get on Gaster's nerves but he tried to brush it off. He endured enough verbal assaults by 1-S, no way he would let a small creature as that guy get to him now.

'No, but we would've definitely heard from their families or their friends, or their partners, or anyone else who cared about them. If someone fell into the Core, we would know.'

"Just because it ain't happened don't mean it won't happen! People could DIE in there!"

Gaster just waved him off: 'I'm not concerned about baseless hypotheticals. The benefits of the Core far outweigh-'

"Hypotheticals!! Why you!"

Asgore immediately pushed between them as the situation seemed to escalate: "Alright, everyone calm down. Please. Thank you for coming to talk to me about this, I will take your concerns very seriously. If that is all.."

The mouse monster grumbles to himself, stomping towards the edge of the table: "Yeah, yeah, I get the picture. Nobody cares about the little guys..."

All three of them watched silently as he barged off and left the room.

Finally, Alphys spoke up: "Well, that was awkward."

"Dr. Alphys, could you look into getting the Core staff some more people? And Dr. Gaster, I'd appreciate it if you put in some safety rails at least."

Gaster clicked his tongue, turning his head away in annoyance: 'Tch, fine.'

'But honestly, I don't see the point...'

.

.

.

It was like a scene stuck on replay. The same routine, every day. Gaster felt as if he was watching himself through someone else's eye. He started to take mental notes to further distance himself from his actions. It made things easier.

7:00 a.m. Lights on. Everything in order. Forgot to shut the main computer down the previous night. No apparent damage.

7:15 p.m. Subject 2 is awake. Subject 1 is not, but their behavior indicates nothing is amiss. Breakfast and coffee. This headache won't go away.

8:00 a.m. Subjects are both awake and playing a bone tossing game. One episode from 1-S; evidence points to an increasing trend following the incident, as predicted. 2-P's episode rate remains stable. They are eating normally despite shivering more than usual. They were talking about [Y/N] again. Or to her? I have enough reason to believe that something is there. I should consider questioning them.

10:30 a.m. Answered mail, fast forwarded through four hours last week's surveillance video. Roughly 120 more hours to go catch up to today. Nothing of interest. Ran the magic peak check over unwatched footage; no results. Still have a headache.

11:30 a.m. Blue magic. The panic attacks when they picked up are growing shorter. 2-P's are worse than 1-S's as predicted. Continued exposure should reduce the duration though they are very obedient now to avoid being picked up, so it's not a priority. No threats or manufactured situation can get them to use blue magic themselves. 2-P bursts into hysterical tears, 1-S shuts down into a near-catatonic state. Success.

12:00 p.m. Smoke break.

12:37 p.m. Call with Alphys to discuss Core readings and development. Anomalous readings continue to plague me. Core is functioning but it could be better. Must figure out improvements.

2:08 p.m. Forgot to eat. Little progress. Fed Subjects, still eating normally.

3.00 p.m. Blaster tests. When the two of them hold hands, 2-P's magic output is greatly increased. 1-S's damage output remains capped, however, no matter how 2-P tries to assist. Nothing seems capable of breaking 1-S's limitations. He's like a black hole when it comes to magic. It'd be fascinating if it weren't so annoying. They ended up fighting when 1-S tried to zap me (as predicted) and 2-P interceded. I wasn't in the mood to mediate so I've separated them until they calm down.

4:05 p.m. Still have a headache.

4:15 p.m. Smoke break.

6:15 p.m. Progress made with DT-EM, IDF theory. Cooling conveyance nearly complete. Still can't figure out what's wrong with the Core. My personal magic signature is still completely absent from both TML files – can't track down the bug that's causing this.

6:20 p.m. Call from Asgore. Wants to meet to discuss safety rails. Told him I was very busy but he insisted. Need to get rid of the smoke smell.

7:45 p.m. Returned from meeting/dinner. Ran longer than anticipated – will have to move the laser session to tomorrow. Just remembered I left 1 and 2 separated this whole time.

8:00 p.m. Reunited Subjects and fed them. Argument has been apparently forgotten.

9.00 p.m. Another two hours of footage fast forwarded. Nothing of note. This would be easier if I could work effectively while checking these, but they make it impossible to focus. If only [Y-] 118 hours to go, not counting today's. Subjects are currently talking about their day: prolonged separation prompted an extra episode from both of them. Not counting it towards their normal rate.

11.00 p.m. Work. Headache. Smoke.

12.00 a.m. Hit a wall. No progress. Can't think. Turned off the lights to try and focus. 1 and 2 are curled up and talking about dreams. Will have to cross-reference what they say with TML readings during their next session.

2.06 a.m. Tired. Just tired.

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{Somewhat important A/N: It's been brought to my attention that it is sometimes confusing for readers to follow my time skips or be able to tell where exactly I am in the story. I would therefore really appreciate it if I could get some feedback in that regard to see if more people have the same problem and try to work on a solution. I want your experience to be as pleasant as possible after all and enjoy reading!
That's all from me and Happy Halloween!}