Late supper in the ex-Dreemurr household.
“It has been a long time since we sat down to eat together, has it not Kris? I missed it.”
“Yeah.” Inq picked at their food--snail tart-lets and buttered cooked carrots, an experimental meal. Their thoughts were immediately straying to their phone upstairs, the phone that Toriel insisted they leave behind. It was rude to text at the table. They knew that it was terrible to think this, but it felt like they were wasting time here talking to her. There were so few questions that came to mind whenever their mother was involved.
 As for Toriel, she was eating her food daintily, which was a monumental task considering that she had paws bigger than Inq’s face. She had a peaceful expression on her face. But as she finished off a carrot, her eyebrows puckered together and Inq’s stomach lurched. “Well, Sans tells me that you have been acting out at work more often lately,” she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.
“No I have not,” Inq stammered, not quite looking up. They haven’t been to work in ages. It had been Carrie’s turn.
“Do not lie, Kris, it is unbecoming--Sans told me all about those customers. And besides, I am not angry with you.” She folded her hands together. “I just think that maybe we should have a talk.”
Their stomach lurched more. They thought perhaps it might placate that look on her face if they ate tart-let, so Inq shoved the whole thing in their mouth right before saying, “Talk about what about?”
That made Toriel frown more. “Well my goodness, Kris, it is far more than just some yelling at work. For several months now, you have been acting out, dropping out of school, and getting into trouble.” Tart-let going down sticky, Inq had hardly taken a breath to point out that they had rejoined school when she continued, “Why, just last June, you ran away and we had to assume you were dead and buried you. Something which I still do not remember getting an apology for...”
“I did say sorry.” The events of last June were not at all something Inq wanted to ever think about. “Sorry.”
To their relief, Toriel moved on from it quickly. Not that the next topic was much better. “And then after that, you ended up running away again and worrying me again--”
“I did not run away, Mr. Gaster kidnapped me.”
Toriel paused and swallowed some carrot. “Oh! Yes, that is right. That was a little strange of him. ...Well, then after that, you have stayed home this time but I fear your behavior has gotten worse. I hear about you getting into fights at work, and at school-”
“I am sorry, mom.” Hands clasped on the table, Inq could feel every muscle in their shoulders as their heart hammered.
“You even argued with your father the other day! At least, that is what I hear tell. You know I would never talk to that odious man agai-”
Toriel made a face. “What I am getting at is, I am worried for you, Kris.” She reached a hand over the table and squeezed theirs. “Even before all of that, really, you have been moping so much since Asriel left. You hardly talk to anyone. I am afraid that you are getting worse, that not having any friends is affecting you. I think that if you try a little harder to get along-”
“No. I have friends,” Inq blurted out, drawing their hands in.
That startled her hand off them. “You--you do?” she asked with wide eyes. “I mean--you do! But---who? You do mean real friends, right?”
Inq nodded. They hoped their face was as hard to see as they always imagined it would be with their hair in their eyes. “Yes. ...It has been just hard. So I acted out. I am sorry. I will be better. I met them online.”Â
“Oh, online friends,” Toriel murmured, settling back in her seat. Then she beamed. “That is great news! I hope they have been treating you well.”
“Tell me about them!”
At that, Inq paused for a long moment, prompts--both lies and truth--swirling around their head. They took a deep breath. “Well. They live very far away, but sometime they could visit. Some of them are human...”
“Oh! I am so glad to hear that. I always worried you might feel lonely here, being the only one...”Â
“Yes.” Inq speared a carrot with their fork, plopped it in their mouth and softly chewed. “...They are nice. Some of them are older than me, but...”
They continued going, thinking over the many people they’d already met in the multiverse, other Krises or Gasters or even Ralsei. They weren’t the best at nuance, but they figured that there had to be something, somewhere in the middle of truth and lie, that would make their mother happy.
