Flinching when he was referred to as part monster, his parentsâ and the Observantsâ words echoing lightly in his head, he frowned at the ghost and nodded slightly. Yes he had been and he couldnât deny that his parents had never had anythingâŚdecent to say about ghosts, but again Gaster was referring to them as monsters. Not ghosts. Was there something that the two of them were missing from what the other was saying? Temp was going to correct him, once again, but he told him that he was going to clear up his misconceptions about monsters.
The very first sentence to leave the ghost (Monster? He wasnât quite sure anymore) only pulled at memories of Clockwork explaining to him about cores for a ghost. Could they be the same, just called different? He wasnât sure, but he knew humans didnât have them. At least not cores. Temp looked a bit panicked when the almost cartoon looking heart pulled out of Gasterâs chest, and he quickly drew himself further away, instincts screaming as he felt the air around him drop slightly in temperature. Cores shouldnât do that, it wasnât right, they shouldnât be shaky like that, it was wrong, wrong, WRONG. Not only that, but you didnât just⌠Pull your core out to show people! How was he not melting?! How was he staying as put together as he had been before he had pulled it out?
âHeh heh,â Temp laughed weakly still completely off guard from watching this ghost, monster, whatever, pull his core out of himself. âYou are in the clock tower, and talking to the Guide of time, I would hope I would know at least some time theory.â
Shaking his head to clear it he took a deep breath and tried to calm his instincts, to push them away to deal with later. âI think⌠I think we are talking about two different beings.â There wasnât any way they could be talking about the same thing. While he knew a lot of compassionate ghosts, there were just as many that he had met that had been cold and cruel. âGhosts,â and he heavily emphasized the word to try and stress that he was only talking about ghosts and not monsters, âCan be just as caring or cruel as a human can be. Like Skulker, who hunts and at times kills things he finds that are âone of a kindâ to collect them, like Aragon who controlled his kingdom with fear, or like Frostbite who studies medicine so that he can heal ghosts that need help, like Dora who listens to all of her people and tries to make their lives better.â Shrugging he shook his head a bit, âThey are all just as capable of acts either cruel or kind. It just depends on what they choose to do.
âThe only thing I can think of when you talk about SOULs in relation to them are cores. They sound a lot like what you are talking about, they are the center of a ghostâs being but, they canât, you donâtâŚâ Temp rubbed his face with a gloved hand. âA ghostâs core is itâs life. Itâs not something you just⌠Rip out of yourself to show everyone!â Temp paused taking a breath, his spectral tail winding around itself and lashing slightly in echo of Tempâs own emotions. âA ghost without itâs core looses itâs form, it destabilizes. And while they could, with time, get their form back they would have to hope that no one they couldnât trust would come along and kill them while they reformed. Showing your core is only something you do if you trust whoever it is that you are with completely, and it never leaves your body.â Tempâs own arm crossed his chest unconsciously. âHumans⌠Humans canât have cores. The closet that they could get to one is their heart, but itâs not the same.
"Iâm not going to lie and say that I wasnât raised by people who saw ghosts asâŚlesser beings, but they are just that. Ghosts. Not monsters.â
This was all very interesting⌠and it began to dawn on him that some way he was a ghost without being a monster.
âThis is⌠well a situation I never thought I would encounter.â He sat back in mid-air, looking pensive. âA world with ghosts but no monsters⌠HmâŚâ Anything was a possibility when you were split across time and space, any number of odd occurrences. Including something like this.Â
âWell perhaps I should clear up what a monster is then. Because where I come from things do work quite differently. First difference is that not all monsters are ghosts but all ghosts are monsters. You see, there are only two races, Humans and Monsters. From there you can break it down into further subsets. There are ghosts, elementals, and skeletons like me just to name a few. Humans⌠well I hadnât walked among them for several hundred years but at that point they really did not divide themselves in any way. What is that saying about a common enemy?â He mused, looking rather bitter. âThey were afraid of us for having the power to take their SOULs. I would draw out yourâs to show you but⌠honestly youâre handling the sight of mine worse than my three year old would and that is saying a lot because he is a complete softskull. I donât really want to be responsible for making you faint kid. If youâre a time guide who knows what will go down with you. Rather not be responsible for something like that.â He shook his head.
âBut I digress. Us monsters may have the ability to steal a human soul but really, it would have never happened. We do not lust for power as humans do. But of course they saw what they would do with that power and assumed we would sink to that kind of low. I suppose the bottom line between monsters and humans is that we would never fight just for curiosityâs sake. When we do something violent, there is a reason. A very good one at that. You do it because your family is in danger, because you want a better life for your kids, your people. You fight to Save yourself or someone else. Humans will fight just to watch someone bleed. Does that make sense?â It was probably a lot to take in for this human ghost but it was probably as basic as he could get.
